Moving on and crawling back
by JustADifferentName
Summary: AU Final Fantasy VII. 3 years after her father's death, Tifa decides to move to Midgar to find a new life and maybe also a certain blond 1st class SOLDIER. Her hate for Shinra eventually leads her to join AVALANCHE and to betray her friends. But was it the right decision? Cloud/Tifa and Zack/Aerith
1. Chapter 1: Moving On

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy is property of Square Enix

Hello everyone! This is a story based on Final Fantasy VII but very AU with lots of twists to the original plot.

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 1:<span> Moving on**

It was pretty calm on the train heading for Midgar, which had surprised her. Tifa had always thought those trains were packed with businessmen and SOLDIERS, but on second thought, she supposed they used better and _fancier _transportation.

She sighed as she leaned back into her seat, staring at the empty gray seats in front of her. Was this the right decision? Wouldn't she miss home? What if she didn't find a job out there? Tifa shook her head, this was no time to question her decision, she was already on her way and there was no turning back. This was it, she had nothing left in Nibelheim anyway. A long sigh escaped her mouth when she started thinking about Nibelheim.

When the train suddenly slowed down and came to a stop, she looked up. The doors opened, creating an annoying creaky noise and only 3 other passengers got in. She followed them with her eyes until they sat down and then her gaze was once again fixed on the empty gray seats in front of her. Midgar shouldn't be too far by now. She was getting tired of sitting down and shifted her weight to get more comfortable. Then she look up to the display above her.

_20 minutes, I'm almost there._

Her lips formed a small smile. Finally she would be able to leave the past behind and to _do _something with her life.

_To move on._

She had to move on, if she had stayed any longer in Nibelheim she would have gone insane. The past would always come and haunt her and she couldn't stand it anymore. It was time to go and to start a new life, to forget about the past that had scarred her for life and that had taken away her father from her.

It had been already 3 years since the death of her father. It had also been 3 years since the respect she had for Shinra and SOLDIER was washed away. Tifa winced at the thought of the bloodied face of her father, his hand trembling in an attempt to reach out to her as she screamed at the sight of his broken body. That day, her father died in the mountains, near the reactor. He had been torn apart by wolves and when Tifa had looked to the side she had seen _him_ walking towards the reactor, not even reacting to the death of her father, not even _trying _to help him.

_He could have saved him. Papa..._

Tifa clenched her fist until it was trembling and then she calmed down. She never forgave herself for being too late that day, but at the same time and more importantly, she never forgot how _he _had left him to die. His long silver hair disappearing into the reactor, pursuing his selfish goals, not even caring about the others.

_I hate them, I hate them all._

She cleared her throat and reached for the bottle of water in her bag. The train was slowly coming to a stop and Tifa saw how the word Midgar flashed by. She heard the other passengers getting up, their heels clacking. In a hurry she swung her bag over her shoulder and pulled at the two suitcases. She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath.

_I'm here._

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><p>Tifa strolled through the city, dragging her luggage with her. She looked at everything. Every building, every person, every car passing by, every crack in the street. It was so different from what she was used to in Nibelheim. Everything was so gray and boring and yet there was life everywhere.<p>

When she looked up, she saw tall pillars and some of them were letting out some sort of glowing green gas surrounding the city. She followed the large construction with her eyes to the heart of the city and she narrowed her eyes.

_Shinra._

Tifa scoffed when hey eyes took in the grand structure of the building. She hated to admit that she was impressed by it, but it was rather imposing. She continued to stare at the building until someone accidentally bumped into her. She was about to start yelling, but shrugged instead when she saw that the person was long gone. With one last look to the Heaquarters, Tifa decided to shake off the thought of Shinra and continue her search for a place to stay. She could explore the city another day, she needed a room for now. As she passed through a narrow alley she found herself in a more calm street. She noticed it was getting dark so she picked up the pace and frantically looked around for an affordable hotel, but then it also started to rain.

"Just my luck!"

While cursing, Tifa ran into the first building she could find. It was a bar.

_Seventh Heaven... That's a nice name for a bar._

She let out a sigh of relief when the warmth of the bar hit her skin. She rubbed the rain out of her eyes and then looked around and noticed she was drawing a lot of attention to herself with her two suitcases. With a sheepish smile she sat down at the bar and sighed.

"Rough day?" a soft voice said.

Tifa looked up at the woman behind the bar and smiled. She was cleaning some glasses while smiling friendly at Tifa. She was young, around Tifa's age, and her brown hair was tied up in a playful ponytail.

"Kind off. I've just moved here." Tifa says while taking off her black coat.

"Well you didn't choose the right time, winter here can be quite the nightmare."

Tifa chuckled and stretched out her arm, offering her hand.

"I'm Tifa."

"Jessie."

Tifa nodded as Jessie put the glasses away and helped out a customer. When she returned she asked what Tifa wanted to drink.

"I'll have a cup of coffee."

"Sure thing."

While Jessie was preparing the coffee, Tifa looked around the bar. It wasn't anything special, just an ordinary bar, but what stood out to Tifa were the many pictures on the wall. It definitely cheered the place up and gave the costumers something to look at.

Jessie's voice abruptly broke Tifa's daydream and she smiled, thanking her as she took the cup of coffee in her hands, enjoying the heat spreading through her cold fingers.

"Where are you from?" Jessie asked, curiosity clearly visible on her face.

Tifa put down her coffee and swallowed before she spoke the name.

"Nibelheim... It's far from here."

"I bet it is, I've never heard from it."

"Yeah, it's just a little village."

Jessie gave her a comforting smile when Tifa got nervous.

"So, it must have been a long trip. Did everything go well?"

"It was okay, mostly boring." Tifa let out a soft laugh and Jessie nodded. "I can imagine!"

After a few minutes of silence and a few sips of her coffee, a loud shattering of glass sounded behind her and Jessie sighed, shaking her head. She swung the towel she had in her hands over her shoulders and reached for a broom, she turned to Tifa.

"Excuse me while I clean up these children's' mess." she said, the irony clearly detectable in her voice.

Tifa chuckled because it was a group of SOLDIERS who dropped the glasses. She could easily recognize them because of the trademark glow in their eyes. When Jessie returned and rolled her eyes, Tifa couldn't help but to smile. To her great content, it seemed that she wasn't the only one against Shinra and SOLDIER;

"Truly, they're even worse than a bunch of toddlers crying for attention." Jessie said, her eyes fixed on the group of SOLDIERS, almost glaring at them.

"I can see that."

Both women started to chuckle and when Jessie finished cleaning up the mess she turned to Tifa.

"So why did you move here of all places?"

Tifa gazed at Jessie for a while and then forced a smile and concentrated on her cup of coffee.

"Just for more opportunities you know. It's a big city, there's many people... Just for a change in my life."

Before Jessie could ask anything more Tifa gestured to a picture behind her she had been staring at for a while. It was truly a beautiful photo of a smiling, elegant woman.

"Is she your mother?" she asked, staring at the picture and unaware of the soft smile on her face.

"Yeah... She passed away 2 years ago." Jessie's voice was quiet and somber and Tifa immediately regretted ever asking for it.

She peeled her eyes away from the photo and looked down in shame.

"I'm so sorry..." Jessie shook her head, a sign not to worry about it. "My mother died when I was little. I don't remember much, but she was so beautiful."

As Tifa talked about her mother she played with her teardrop shaped earrings. Sometimes she noticed she always did that when thinking about her mother. She supposed the earrings made her feel connected with her, even after all these years. After their conversation, Tifa finished her coffee and thanked Jessie for everything.

"No problem, come get a cup of coffee sometimes."

Tifa slid off the barstool and smiled, nodding.

"Definitely."

"Where are you staying again?" Jessie asked the question as if she had asked it before.

"Actually I'm looking for a place to stay... and also to work."

Jessie's lips instantly formed a smile, catching Tifa off guard. "Really?" She then wiped off her hands with her apron. "Then I have good news for you, I've been looking around for help around the bar for a while now."

Tifa's eyes grew wide and she let out a laugh in a rush of breath when she knew what Jessie was going to ask.

"So if you're interested, I have a room you can use if you want to help me with the bar."

Tifa clasped her hands together and nodded, too excited to actually speak and also relieved she didn't have to go out in the rain right now. "Thank you so much!"

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><p>After a week, Tifa had gotten used to her small, but comfortable room at Seventh Heaven. She had a roof window and her bed was placed beneath it. Sometimes she would lay in her bed and imagine a sky full of stars above her, like she was used to see in Nibelheim. But this wasn't Nibelheim and there weren't any stars, only dirty clouds blocking the moonlight and bringing darkness to the entire city.<p>

Daytime wasn't any better, she had found out. It had been just a week and she already missed the bright sunlight shining on her face, or the songs of birds or even the sound of the wind rushing through the grass.

But she forced herself not to think about it, to forget about Nibelheim and to think about the future.

_I'm so lucky._

She was lucky. Lucky that she met Jessie and that she offered her a job. She had already noticed the many unemployed people roaming the streets for work. Their eyes didn't hold any hope, only despair.

Working at Seventh Heaven wasn't a walk in the park, but it was nice. She got to hang out with Jessie all day and she got to observe the many SOLDIERS that came in regularly. Tifa loved how she could crack jokes about them with Jessie. She had expected everyone in the city to worship them like gods; she couldn't have been more wrong.

On a cold Wednesday evening, Tifa was cleaning the tables before closing time and she was in deep thought. She wondered how a certain blond chocobo haired guy was doing. Was he really happy being in SOLDIER, working for Shinra? What would he look like now? The last time Tifa had seen him, he had been a skinny teenager.

_Where are you Cloud?_

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><p>That was the first and introductory chapter! I apologize for it not being so eventful, but I first have to set the stage.<p>

Please do leave some feedback! It would make me really happy!

**Next chapter: Old Friends**


	2. Chapter 2: Old Friends

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix

A small clarification: Tifa is 21 years old and Cloud 22 years old.

Constructive criticism is always welcome. Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 2<strong>**:****Old friends**

3 weeks had already passed since Tifa arrived in Midgar and she was already accustomed to working in the bar, even though it meant serving SOLDIERS all day. Tifa had addressed her dislike for SOLDIERS and Jessie had told her to deal with it, they were her best paying customers. So that's what she did, she suppressed her hate towards them and tried to ignore their comments as much as possible, but the tight clothes Jessie made her wear didn't help. They both wore tight fitting black jeans, black all stars and a tight white blouse that showed off cleavage.

It wasn't the first time Tifa got comments from interested men, but she wished she could at least cover up her impressive bust, but Jessie's words still echoed in her head.

"Deal with it, it's good for the bar. As long as they don't touch you, ignore them."

It was easier said than done, but Tifa was able to keep herself completely calm, sometimes she even surprised herself. She didn't have a bad temper, but perverts could get on her nerves.

Because of these SOLDIERS, Tifa had begun to think about Cloud. Did he become like them? Was he also rude and a pervert? She had been reluctant to ask Jessie if she knew him so instead she tried to look up his address so she could go find him herself, but apparently information about 1st class SOLDIERS was very valuable and she had just given up.

This evening was one of the bad ones. Tifa recognized the group of 4 SOLDIERS before they even entered the bar, they were always so damn loud. Tifa frowned when the bell rang as they entered the bar. Once again they were in loud conversation, literally anybody could follow whatever they were talking about.

The worst part was that Jessie was upstairs, having a meeting with her friends from an organisation called AVALANCHE. Tifa had been rather surprised when she had explained it to her.

***Flashback***

"Hey Teef, some friends are coming over tonight, I'm closing the bar, you can clean up." Jessie said just before running up the stairs. Tifa didn't even have the chance to react or to ask for a reason.

While Tifa was busy cleaning the tables and the bar, Jessie ran back down and politely asked the last costumer to leave the bar. When the old man left, she quickly changed the sign to 'closed' and walked over to the bar where Tifa was still cleaning.

"Who exactly is coming over? And why do you need to close the bar for that?" Tifa asked, frowning.

"Well, actually it's a meeting."

Tifa wasn't following. "A meeting."

Jessie sat down on a barstool and nodded. "Yes, a meeting with my friends. They'll be here in about 10 minutes so you can meet them."

"As long as they don't need me to clean up their mess on the floor, I'm all up for it."

Jessie laughed at her comment. "Don't worry, they're really nice!

Tifa smiled, she believed her.

"Why are you having a meeting?"

"Because we are an organization." Jessie quickly answered proudly and Tifa looked up, curious about the details. "Really?"

"Yeah, we're called AVALANCHE. Ever heard of us?"

For a moment, Tifa stopped her work and thought about it, but then shook her head. "Nope, never heard of it."

She raised an eyebrow when Jessie muttered that it was good thing, not really understanding why she would say that.

"So what do you guys do?"

Jessie snapped her eyes to Tifa and hesitated. "Well uh... I'm not sure if I can tell you that. I'm not the leader you see..."

Now Tifa was really interested, but she was able to suppress her curiosity and just shrugged as if she didn't care.

A few minutes later a little girl entered the bar and Tifa stared at her, confused to how a little girl can just walk into a bar. Jessie, however, flung herself to the girl and took her into her arms.

"Aunty Jessie!"

"Oh Marlene! It's good to see you!" Jessie exclaimed as she stroked the girl's brown hair. "I've missed you."

Marlene chuckled and hugged Jessie back. "I missed you too!"

Tifa was smiling at the two and then saw the next person coming in, she was surprised to say the least. She took in his features by staring at him a little bit too long.

_He's huge!_

Jessie got up, holding little Marlene in her arms. "Hello Barret."

"Hey Jess, how are ya?"

"Fine, everything's fine."

Just when Jessie wanted to introduce Barret and Marlene to Tifa, Barret's eyes were locked onto Tifa and she swallowed hard as he took a step forward.

"Who's this?" a deep voice startled Tifa.

"I was going to tell you. This is Tifa Lockhart, she's my new co-worker." Jessie explained as she walked up to Tifa and laid a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. Tifa sheepishly waved at him. "Hi."

Barret kept glaring at her until Marlene tugged at Tifa's apron. "You're very pretty."

Tifa chuckled by the child's sweetness and crouched down to be at eye level with her. "But I think _you_ are the prettiest girl here." Tifa said and softly poked Marlene in the chest, the little girl giggled.

At the sight of his daughter carelessly interacting with Tifa, Barret dropped the tough guy act and smiled as 2 other persons entered the bar.

"Well then Tifa, meet Biggs and Wedge." Barret said and laughed loudly as he slapped Biggs on the back, making the guy fall over. Laughter filled the bar that evening.

***End of flashback***

It sure was a weird bunch of people, but they were very nice and Tifa was very happy she could call them her new friends. A smile appeared on her face as she thought about them. Although they were friendly, Tifa still had some doubts concerning their course of action against Shinra. Jessie had explained it all to her last night, when Barret had given her permission. They were fighting against Shinra because the company was consuming the planet's life energy to provide power for the city. Using this life source would eventually lead to the destruction of the planet.

Tifa had accidentally heard some words about bombing the reactors and had quickly returned to the bar. She wasn't sure what to think of it. Bombing the reactors would normally lead to injured people wouldn't it? But Jessie and the others were nice people weren't they? They would never do something like that if it meant hurting people.

_They would never do that._

Tifa's thoughts were disturbed by loud laughter coming from the group of SOLDIERS. She sighed out of annoyance, trying to keep her nerves under control. She focused on cleaning and tried to shut the noise out.

Then one of them walked over to the counter. Tifa already knew this one, his name was Elliot and he was a fairly high ranked SOLDIER. It wasn't the first time he approached Tifa in the bar so she already knew how to act.

As soon as he opened his mouth she could smell he was already drunk, the stench made her step back in disgust. He clumsily leaned on the bar and gazed at her bust.

"Hey sweetheart, bring us some beers will ya?" his words were slurred and Tifa felt the need to vomit when she heard them. "In a minute." she shortly answered, trying not to breathe in the stench of his breath.

Apart from all of his muscles, Elliot wasn't a regular looking SOLDIER. He was rather short and had red hair. Tifa had found out most SOLDIERS were built the same way: muscular, tall, broad, rather handsome and of course the signature glow in their eyes.

Elliot sat back down at the table and Tifa took a deep breath before she went over and placed the beers on the table. She knew they were eyeing her breasts, but she just ignored it.

"There you go, enjoy." she said very fast and when she wanted to turn around to walk away, Elliot blocked her. "I could enjoy myself more if you'd sit down." he said and laughed as he patted his knee.

Tifa looked at him and felt her fists aching to collide with his face, but once again she calmed herself down and gave him a obvious fake smile and walked away. "No thanks."

Tifa watched them chug down their beers and they ordered new ones. Again she went over to the table with new beers. As she collected the empty glasses onto a plate, Elliot stood up, coming closer to her ear while she was walking with the glasses.

"Need some help with that honey?" he whispered in her ear and she shivered from the stench surrounding her face.

Suddenly he groped her butt and he laughed. Tifa felt the anger filling her whole body. She placed the plate on the counter and in the blink of an eye she hit him, her full fist in his face, sending him a few meters back on the floor.

"Keep your damn hands off me!" she yelled, clenching her fists, walking over to Elliot who winced as he tried to wipe the blood from his lips.

"That wench! You'll pay for this!"

When Tifa was ready to strike again, a strong hand grabbed her arm holding her back. "Woah, calm down!" spoke a deep voice.

Tifa took a deep breath and then tried to shake the hand off. "I'm calm!" Then she looked into familiar blue eyes, she froze on the spot. She hadn't seen those eyes in very long time. "I know you..." she muttered and the hold on her arm weakened.

"Tifa..."

Tifa blinked at the sound of her name and she took in his familiar features, his spiky dark hair, his deep, glowing blue eyes and his pale skin.

"Zack Fair." she softly said, it was nearly a whisper.

She could barely believe he was standing there in front of her. In her mind she wanted to say so many things, but she couldn't bring up the courage to get the words out.

"What are you standing there for! She has to pay for this!" Elliot suddenly started to yell as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Zack quickly turned around, glaring at the red haired man.

"I strongly suggest you get out of here and don't ever come back!" his words were direct and strong, the other SOLDIER didn't have a choice but to obey and he left.

When Tifa heard the slam of the door, she came to her senses and crossed her arms, huffing. At the same time Jessie had run down the stairs to see what was going on.

"What happened? Zack?" Jessie turned to Tifa who averted her eyes.

"She hit one of your costumers-" Jessie widened her eyes. "WHAT?!" "He touched her." Zack continued and Jessie immediately calmed down and took a deep breath.

"Well then he deserved it." she softly hit Tifa's shoulder making her smile.

"And man! She packs one hell of a punch!" Zack added followed by a chuckle and Tifa turned around to face him, when someone else walked up beside him. Tifa's mouth fell open when she looked into his light blue eyes. If it hadn't been for his chocobo styled blond hair, she wouldn't have recognized him. How he had changed, he was so tall and and not at all skinny.

_Cloud..._

The sweet boy from next door was standing there all grown up and handsome. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks and she started to breathe faster.

_Calm down Tifa! Put yourself together!_

"Tifa?" His voice was barely noticeable, full of shock and confusion.

They both stared at each other until Cloud managed to tear his eyes away and he looked around the bar.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a plain, steady voice.

Tifa felt a bit disappointed because of his lack of enthusiasm to see her. "I uh... I moved here, I work here..."

She started to fumble her apron and when he frowned, she looked away, hiding her red cheeks. What was she even doing in these revealing clothes? What would he think of her now? Then she slapped herself mentally and regained her posture telling herself this was still the same Cloud, right?

"I couldn't stand being in Nibelheim anymore. I needed a fresh start you know..." she forced out a smile, hoping he would smile back at her but he just kept frowning.

Suddenly Zack's phone rang and everyone looked at him. When he picked up, he told Cloud to go, it was work. Cloud nodded and he seemed as if he wanted to get away when he already walked to the door, followed by Zack, who suddenly walked back up to Tifa and grabbed something out of his pocket. Tifa looked at the phone number he gave her.

"If you need anything, give me a call."

Then they both left and Tifa was still in complete shock, mostly because of Cloud's indifference towards her.

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><p>Once he closed the door behind him, Zack turned to Cloud who was still looking confused and Cloud was rarely confused.<p>

"Okay, that was interesting..." Zack said, still processing who he had just seen.

Cloud shook his head, muttering. "It doesn't make any sense." Then he looked at Zack and frowned. "How do know you her?"

Zack had already feared this question would rise up and he faked a smile, in vain of course, he knew Cloud wouldn't fall for it. "Yeah well buddy, that's a long story and we have work to do."

"Zack, tell me." Cloud's voice was steady and serious.

Zack knew he would have to tell him some day and he swallowed. He couldn't tell him now, Cloud wasn't ready. That was a lie of course, Zack knew he wasn't ready himself. Luckily enough his phone went off again, a text message saying it was urgent.

"Well we _really_ need to go Cloud, it's urgent."

"You're not getting out of this one Zack, promise me you'll tell me later."

Zack hesitated, he really didn't feel like explaining it to his best friend, but he knew he had to. He couldn't keep it a secret. He sighed. "Alright fine. Let's go!"

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><p>The next day, Tifa stared at the black numbers on the display of her cell phone. She knew that she could call Zack right now and ask him about Cloud. She just had to press the green button, it could be that easy, so why did she hesitate? She knew why. She had felt so hurt when Cloud hadn't even given her a simple smile. Had he changed so much? Had he really become one of those rude SOLDIERS?<p>

Tifa shook her head. She refused to believe that and she closed her phone and sighed. Then then were the memories that came together with Zack Fair, the memories she wished to forget.

Then Jessie came in to open the bar. She heard the loud noise of the curtains being opened and took a deep breath. This was no time to be sulking, she had to help Jessie and ask her if she knew those two.

It was as if Jessie had heard Tifa's thoughts when she asked her about Zack and Cloud. "Do you know those two?"

Tifa didn't react at first, but when Jessie touched her arm, Tifa turned to her. "Uh yeah, I do...It's a lot to explain though."

Jessie smiled. "We have time though."

Tifa let out a chuckle and nodded. She helped Jessie taking off the chairs from the tables.

"Cloud used to be my neighbour when I was little." Tifa started and looked to Jessie for her reaction, which was being pretty surprised. "He was your neighbour?" "Yeah, he lived next door until he left Nibelheim to get into SOLDIER. I believe he was 15 years old when he left, that was also the last time I saw him... Until now that is."

Jessie put her hand in her side and still couldn't believe it. "So he was a normal human being before? I can't believe he lived in Nibelheim."

"Yeah, he was pretty normal... though I wasn't always that nice to him..." Tifa muttered, remembering her childhood with Cloud. How she would hang out with the popular kids and ignore him, even though she liked him. She never understood why she was so mean to him as a child.

"And you also know Zack?" Jessie asked, placing the last chair on the floor.

"Uh yes, I've only seen him once... it was 3 years ago."

"What a coincidence!"

"Yeah...what a coincidence." Tifa whispered to herself, promising herself she would get to talk to Cloud, what was his relation to Zack anyway? Did Cloud even know about what happened in Nibelheim 3 years ago? She had so many questions.

In the evening the bar was running pretty good, but it was nearing closing time. It was Saturday, so the bar closed earlier than usual. Jessie sat down on a bar stool and let out a long sigh, she seemed very tired by the looks of the bags under her eyes.

"I'm exhausted and we still have an hour to go." her words were followed by a short yawn.

Tifa smiled at her and told her to go to bed, she'd take care of everything. Jessie thanked her and promised to do her favour one day as well.

"You're my boss Jessie, you're supposed to order me around." Tifa jokes and Jessie snorted. "I don't want to be an awful boss."

After Jessie left, only a few costumers remained and Tifa was almost done cleaning. She dried her hands with a towel and stepped onto the small ladder - Jessie had put it there to reach the top shelves since they were both too short - and placed the liquor bottles back.

"So you're really Tifa Lockhart."

Tifa jumped, almost dropping the bottle and turned around, getting of the ladder. She gazed once again into those bright blue eyes. For a moment she was at loss for words, she had not expected him to come back.

"Hi Cloud."

He was sitting on a bar stool and he still staring at her, making her uncomfortable so she thought about something to say to break the awkward silence. "How are you? It's been a while..."

Cloud snapped his eyes back to the bar and he licked his lips. "I'm fine, yeah it's been... a while."

Tifa was happy he was talking to her and formed a smile. "You look good." Then she realized how stupid that sounded. "I- I mean, you look healthy, not that you're not good looking of course, so uh...yeah..." She mentally smacked herself on the head, multiples times, which showed as a frown on the outside.

_Way to go and embarrass yourself Lockhart. _

Luckily Cloud didn't seem to be affected by the awkwardness and he just looked at her as if he was in deep thought. "It's weird seeing you here in Midgar..."

Tifa was slightly upset by his choice of words.

_It's weird._

"Oh um... Well I couldn't stay in Nibelheim my whole life." She added a sheepish smile and focused on the sponge in her hands. Then she remembered she was running a bar.

"Would you like a drink?"

"Yeah, a beer please."

Tifa turned to the beer tap and prepared him a fresh cold beer, smiling as she remembered he had said 'please', hopefully making him more polite than she had originally thought. She swiped off the excess foam, cleaned off the glass and put it down for him.

"Thanks."

There was a short silence before Tifa broke it. "So wauw, you're a 1st class SOLDIER... I guess your dream came true huh?" Cloud looked up to her. "Well yeah sort of."

She frowned. "Sort of?"

Cloud took a deep breath. "Let's say the job isn't always the most fun."

"Hmm."

"I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly, it was urgent." he quickly said, as if he had been preparing himself mentally the entire time to say that one line. "It's okay, I understand."

Then he showed her the slightest sign of a smile and Tifa was so relieved he was able to be friendly with her.

"So what are your plans here? Or, were you aiming for the bar maid's job?"

Tifa had to chuckle. "No, not really. I kind of left in a hurry, hadn't really thought about my future here. I guess this job is alright though, I like it here."

Cloud took a sip from his beer and nodded. "That's good."

Tifa subtly looked at Cloud as he sat there, observing his movements and his body. Gosh, he had grown up so much and he was so handsome. He wore a simple blue t-shirt with a leather jacket, Tifa could also see a drawing of a wolf on the inside of the jacket.

"I'm happy to see you again Cloud, I wondered for the longest time how you were doing." Tifa suddenly said and she meant it. She wasn't embarrassed to say it, she had been waiting so long to be able to. Cloud smiled. "It's nice to see you too Tifa. Weird but nice."

"I'm relieved to hear that." Tifa smiled and went to go get an order from a costumer. When she got back Cloud had finished his beer and had placed money on the counter.

"I have to go, thanks for the beer."

Tifa just nodded, she was a bit sad he was leaving, she would have loved to talk some more, but instead she smiled. Before he turned around to leave Cloud pointed at the notebook in her hands.

"Can I borrow your pen?" he suddenly asked and Tifa gave it to him.

He scribbled down his phone number on a napkin and left it on the counter.

"Here, I won't promise I'll always pick up, but I'll try."

For a moment Tifa wasn't aware of what was happening, but when he told her good night she woke up from her trance and thanked him, wishing him a good night as well.

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><p><strong><span>Next chapter<span>: Friends or Foes?**


	3. Chapter 3: Friends or Foes?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Final Fantasy VII

I apologize for the lack of action in this chapter, but I'm definitely working my way up there!

Please do leave a review! It would help me out greatly and it encourages me to keep writing.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 3<span>: Friends or Foes?**

While Jessie was taking orders from customers, Tifa saw the delivery man entering the bar. She woke up from her daydream and walked to the older man who was adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Good morning Pete. How are you?" Tifa said, sniggering at the dirt smeared on his face.

The snow had disappeared in Midgar and that meant winter was coming to an end. That also meant dirty mud everywhere because of the melted snow, Tifa hated it.

Pete scratched his nose and gave Tifa a wide smile. "Beautiful day isn't it?" Tifa followed his gaze to the window and smiled, the sun was out, but only a few rays of sunlight broke through the clouds. "Yes, very beautiful."

Tifa then signed the delivery papers and took over the boxes filled with bottles of liquor and food. By now, she knew exactly where to put everything and how to change the beer taps. She also knew when the AVALANCHE meetings took place and even though she was very curious she still kept out of their business. Maybe she did it to be able to watch over Marlene, Tifa had gotten quite fond of the bubbly little girl and that hadn't gone unnoticed by Barret. He had asked her to watch over his daughter sometimes and Tifa had happily accepted his offer. He was right about keeping Marlene out of the meetings, such harsh words were not appropriate for a 6 year old, definitely not Barret's cursing when he would express his hate towards Shinra.

This morning, Tifa's thoughts didn't drift off to Cloud, Zack and Nibelheim for once. She was enjoying the small stroke of sunlight that warmed her face, giving her cheeks a pink glow and she thought about nothing in particular. It was nice to give her busy head a break sometimes.

When the bar closed at noon, Tifa went outside to go for a walk around the city. She had been outside before, but it had always been gray and cold. Today was different, today she felt a little bit more at home.

As she closed the door behind her, she wrapped a red scarf around her neck and started to walk down the street. It wasn't very difficult to notice the difference between the slums and the rich sectors up on the plate, the contrast was so noticeable it sometimes made Tifa feel sick in her stomach. She knew those people in the streets used to be like her, full of hope for a new and better life, but they hadn't been so lucky.

When she looked up to the construction above her, the thoughts came crashing back into her mind. Her conversation with Cloud, Zack, Nibelheim, Shinra and SOLDIER. It all connected and she shivered.

_Cloud and Zack are SOLDIERS... They work for Shinra..._

Tifa hated Shinra, she _despised _them and most of all she hated the man who let her father die.

_Sephiroth._

But that wasn't the whole story, Zack had been there too, 3 years ago in Nibelheim. He had arrived together with Sephiroth to investigate the mako reactor up in the mountains. That time, Tifa still expressed her respect for SOLDIER and she volunteered to serve as a guide for them despite her father's protests. Maybe it was because she was curious to see the SOLDIERS, to see what Cloud could be like there in Midgar. However, it all changed that day when her father died.

***Flashback***

Tifa ran, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her towards the reactor. The tears were flowing fast and with each step they fell one by one to the ground. She screamed his name when the red glow of the flames inside the reactor began to reflect in her ruby eyes.

"SEPHIROTH!"

For a moment, she blocked out her surroundings and she could only hear the rapid clacking of her heels on the metallic stairs and then she felt her heart pounding inside her head. She rushed inside, shielding her face with her arms, the flames were burning hot and were licking at her skin. The smoke blocked her airways and she started to gasp for air as she desperately looked around to find the general and when she caught a glimpse of his silver hair she began to run again. She was determined to get there, he would not get away, he would pay for this.

Then someone grabbed her arms, yanking her back. She fell against a muscular chest.

"Tifa! What are you doing!" he yelled and she could feel the vibration of his voice against the back of her head. "You'll get yourself killed!"

Tifa started to kick wildly as the man dragged her out of the burning reactor. She screamed to let her go. She screamed and she cried.

"Let me go! Papa!"

When she noticed the stairs underneath her she spun around on her heels in a second, trying to hit whoever was holding her back, but in her hurry she tripped and fell down the stairs and she screamed at the top of her lungs when the bones in her arm cracked. She lay perfectly still on the muddy ground and her sobs and fast breathing were the only sounds left.

"Tifa!" the same voice yelled, full of despair, he approached her.

Tifa pulled away when he touched her.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled.

"Tifa... please..." His voice sounded so soft and warm.

Tifa's vision was blurry because of the tears in her eyes, but she could recognize that black spiky hair anywhere.

_Zack..._

Then she fell into darkness.

***End of flashback***

The first thing Tifa remembered afterwards was waking up in the hospital in Nibelheim. Zack and Sephiroth were gone and the reactor had been burned down. When she had gone back up in the mountains to look for her father, his body was nowhere to be found. The villagers said he - unfortunately - had been caught in the fire and when Tifa tried to tell them the truth none of them would listen. She couldn't really blame them. Who would believe an 18 year old girl from Nibelheim over the mighty general Sephiroth, worshipped nearly everywhere. However, that didn't mean Tifa forgave her village and that is why she had to get away. She couldn't stand the pity in their eyes when they looked at her as if she was some crazy woman grieving her father.

Then her phone rang in her pocket and she was startled. She noticed she had walked quite a distance while she had been caught up in her thoughts. She saw it was Jessie.

"Hey Teef! Where are you?"

"I'm just going for a walk. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could take over the bar for the next 2 days, I'm going to visit a friend in Kalm."

Tifa didn't know Jessie had friends over at Kalm but she didn't mind running the bar alone for a while. "Sure no problem. When are you leaving?"

"This evening, so make sure you're back on time."

"Okay, I'll head on home then."

"See ya!"

* * *

><p>The fact that he was so distracted the last few days started to worry him. Usually he was always focused on the job, he rarely made any mistakes and that was what made him one of the best. Lately, his mind wandered off to other things and unfortunately for him, that hadn't gone unnoticed by Zack.<p>

"So exactly what was your relationship with her?" Zack asked for the tenth time, Cloud knew he wouldn't stop asking until he would explain it without forgetting one little detail.

"I already told you, she was my neighbour." Cloud said in an automatic manner, he had only answered the question in the same way 9 times before.

Zack lifted up his index finger and pointed at something invisible on the street where they were walking as if he was on to something and then he just shook his head.

"Cloud, buddy. You didn't see your reaction when you saw her, I've never seen you so shocked!" Zack said and looked to his right where Cloud was walking. "There's something you're not telling me!"

Cloud had his hands in his pockets and sighed, he was getting annoyed by Zack's constant questioning.

"You don't have to look for a big mystery in everything Zack. Sometimes things are that simple."

And it was that simple. Tifa used to be his neighbour, one of the popular kids, and that was it. Sure he may have had a crush on her, but Zack did _not _need to know that. He wouldn't hear the end of it. While his thoughts drifted back to Tifa, he automatically thought of the young, cute girl in the blue dress. He still had to get used to the image of the adult Tifa he had seen at the bar. She had grown up so well. Cloud had always thought she was pretty, but now he didn't really have words for it. She was very beautiful and _very _feminine.

Cloud kicked himself mentally. What the hell was he thinking about his childhood friend? He shouldn't be focusing on those aspects of her.

Then Zack opened his mouth to protest, but luckily Cloud was faster than him.

"Besides, _you_ still need to tell _me_ how you know her." he pointed accusingly at Zack.

Zack closed his mouth and he smiled sheepishly. He looked how far the Seventh Heaven and pointed at it.

"Oh but we're almost there, I'll tell you some other day." Zack said, but Cloud wasn't very amused.

When they entered the bar, Cloud immediately scanned the room for Tifa. He didn't really know why, but he was relieved to see her working behind the bar. She looked as good as ever.

They both walked up to her and she waved at them and she put a hand on in her side. She looked happy to see them.

"Hello you two."

For a moment Zack looked around the bar to see Jessie. "It's just you?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jessie's out of town for 2 days." Tifa replied and handed a beer to a customer who had come to the bar.

"How have you been?" Cloud asked and Tifa shortly glanced at him. "I'm fine, I'm getting the hang of running the bar." She smiled proudly.

Then suddenly a little girl ran up to Tifa, dressed in her pyjamas. Cloud was surprised to see a child in the bar. She happily showed Tifa the teddy bear in her arms and said his name was Mister Cuddles.

"Well Marlene, I sure hope you brushed your teeth" Tifa asked folding her arms and Marlene nodded a few times. "Yep! And Mister Cuddles as well!"

Tifa giggled at the name and then Cloud saw how Marlene was staring up and down at him and Zack.

"Marlene go say hi to my friends."

Marlene walked around the bar and grinned widely. "Hi I'm Marlene!"

Before any of them could react she pointed at Cloud's head and giggled. "Your hair looks like a chocobo!"

Tifa and Zack burst out in laughter, Cloud on the other hand wasn't that amused, but he could take the joke. He crouched down and looked at Marlene who gazed into his blue eyes, keeping Mister Cuddles close to her body.

"Well chocobo head's name is Cloud. Nice to meet you Marlene." Cloud said and Marlene smiled.

"And my name is Zack."

Cloud got back up and saw how Marlene quickly ran back to Tifa and clung to her leg. Tifa picked Marlene up and the little girl swung her arms around her neck.

"Now now Marlene, you know it's bedtime." Tifa said and Cloud heard Marlene groan, she looked at Tifa. "But I don't wanna."

Tifa chuckled and put her down on her feet, she kissed Marlene's cheek. "Good night." Then she planted a kiss on the teddy bear as well. "And good night Mister Cuddles."

Marlene then kissed Tifa good night and ran upstairs. Tifa got up, the smile still present on her face. Cloud and Zack sat down at the bar.

"Are you babysitting?" Cloud asked curiously and Tifa simply nodded. "She's a friend's daughter, he's out a lot so I look after her from time to time."

"She looks like a good kid." Zack said and Tifa nodded in agreement. "She's a sweetheart... So what can I get you?"

"Two beers?" Zack said as he looked to Cloud for approval, he nodded.

"Two beers coming up!"

Tifa placed the glasses in front of the two SOLDIERS and sat down herself. "So what's up?" She asked cheerfully.

"We wanted to see how you were doing." Zack said, drinking from his beer.

"Well I'm fine really." Tifa said, lifting one leg above the other. "How are you two?"

"Busy, as usual, but fine." Cloud replied and Zack nodded to agree with him. "You know, we should introduce you to Aerith, you two would get along." Zack added and Tifa looked a bit confused.

"She's our friend, she lives in Sector 5." Cloud quickly added when he saw the confused look on Tifa's face and she nodded at him. "Sure, sounds good."

When Tifa's gaze danced from Cloud to the door, Cloud turned around to see who had just entered the bar, he looked to the side and frowned as he saw the tall, broad and dark-skinned man. He knew him, that was Barret Wallace, suspected of being involved with AVALANCHE. Zack and Cloud didn't react when Barret walked up to Tifa and he greeted her.

"Yo Teef, Marlene's upstairs?" he asked, clearing his throat afterwards and glancing over to Zack and Cloud. Tifa smiled at him. "Yep, I just sent her off to bed. Are you taking her with you?"

Cloud was too busy glaring at the broad man next to Tifa to notice Barret was sending him dirty looks. Tifa frowned when she saw the three men exchanging weird looks and she cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself.

"So?"

"Uh, no. I have to go again, I'll just tell her good night." Barret said and immediately left.

Cloud noticed Tifa was still processing what just happened and she slowly sat back down, still looking at the stairs where Barret had just left. Zack then broke the weird silence and asked for another beer. While Tifa cleaned the dirty glasses she had collected, Barret had come downstairs and he called out to her.

"Oh you're leaving so soon? You can stay and have a drink you know." Tifa said.

"I have to go. Marlene is sleeping." he said and then his eyes shot accusingly to the two SOLDIERS at the bar. "Take care of yourself."

"Sure thing. I'll call you in the morning." Tifa murmured, still not really understanding why Barret had to be so hostile towards her friends.

After Barret left, Cloud followed Tifa with his eyes until she was back behind the bar.

"Tifa, you do know who that man is?"

Tifa stared at Cloud's firm expression, he didn't blink or twitch when he said those words. She let out a chuckle. "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be taking care of his daughter."

"That's not what I mean." Cloud continued and glanced over at Zack who just shrugged. Cloud leaned a bit further to Tifa and lowered his voice. "He's suspected of being involved with an organization called AVALANCHE. Ever heard of it?"

Tifa tensed and for a second stopped cleaning, she shivered. The next second she continued cleaning and Cloud gazed intensely at her, as if he wanted to pierce through her skull and see what she was thinking. She let out a noise of confusion and shook her head, Cloud slightly frowned at her reaction.

"Nope, never heard of it." Tifa averted her eyes and focused on the sponge in her hands. "Why?"

Zack then interrupted Cloud before he could speak.

"Just be careful around him Tifa."

Tifa glanced up, and she swallowed. Cloud observed her body movements and then he relaxed. There was no way Tifa would be involved with AVALANCHE, she would never do that.

"I'm sure Barret is harmless, but okay I'll keep it in mind." Tifa said and both SOLDIERS nodded and finished their beers. They said goodbye and left the bar.

* * *

><p>After Zack and Cloud had left, Tifa took a deep breath to relax her tense muscles. She couldn't believe she had just flat out <em>lied <em>to them and she didn't even understand why she did it, it came out before she realized it. Zack's words still repeated themselves in her head.

_Just be careful around him._

It didn't make any sense. Barret was a lovely man. Sure, he could be loud and rash, but his heart was in the right place, he did everything for his little girl. Tifa couldn't understand why Zack and Cloud would think he could hurt her. Then she swallowed away a lump in her throat.

_They already suspect him of being involved with AVALANCHE. Barret has to be more careful._

Tifa knew thinking like that was going against Cloud and Zack, but she didn't even hesitate. She just couldn't imagine Barret and Jessie hurting people, but then again, the same went for the two SOLDIERS. Cloud wouldn't hurt innocent people, she just knew it. Neither would Zack, she owed him her life after all. So why was she so upset? Shouldn't she be happy that none of her friends would deliberately hurt innocents?

Tifa shook her head. They were fighting for different reasons, their goals clashed and therefore they couldn't be friends.

They were enemies.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Next chapter<span>: Decisions**


	4. Chapter 4: Decisions

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Hello guys! In this chapter Tifa meets Aerith and she has to make an important decision. The real action will probably begin next chapter or the 6th chapter, so stick around!

Please review, it would totally make my day!

Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Decisions**

* * *

><p>A weary sigh escaped her lips as Tifa walked through the slums of sector 7. Whenever she walked through the slums that lay underneath the city, she was secretly very happy the bar was located on top of the plate. That way, she at least got to enjoy a little bit of sunlight, the slums were downright depressing. It was like a permanent bitter cold hung in the air, it made her feel claustrophobic. She shivered and buried her nose in her scarf.<p>

Marlene squeezed Tifa's hand, it was like the little girl wanted to assure her she wasn't alone. Tifa's lips formed a soft smile underneath her scarf, she squeezed back.

Though she didn't always enjoy it, Tifa had been coming to the slums more often to bring Marlene home to Barret. She understood why he left her at the bar so much, the slums were no place for children, yet Tifa's heart broke every time she saw children begging for food or money. It was every time she came down to the slums that she was confronted with the bitter reality of the city and every time she returned to the plate, her hatred for Shinra grew.

"We're here!" Marlene happily exclaimed and released the hold on Tifa's hand.

The little girl ran straight for the old, shabby looking house and called out to Barret.

"Daddy! Daddy I'm home!"

Tifa couldn't help but to feel her heart sink in her body every time Marlene called that construction you could barely call a house - her home. She caught up with Marlene and went inside where she saw Barret lifting Marlene above his head, making her cry out in joy. The scene warmed her body and she couldn't help but to smile. Marlene had been living at the bar for 2 weeks, so she was obviously overjoyed to see her father again.

"Daddy, Tifa taught me how to build a house of cards! Oh and aunty Jessie took me out for hot chocolate!" Marlene rambled on, mentioning everything she had done in the past 2 weeks.

Barret smiled gratefully at Tifa and she nodded, it was her way of saying it was a joy to have Marlene around.

"Go and unpack upstairs, okay?" Barret said to Marlene who nodded and cheerfully ran upstairs, the polka dotted bag pack bouncing up and down behind her.

"I can't thank ya enough Teef."

Tifa shook her head and smiled. "Really, it's my pleasure, she's a sweetheart."

Even though, Barret was trying his best to hide his worry, Tifa could see it immediately.

"What's wrong?"

She could tell he didn't want to say it and most of the time when he hesitated it had something to do with AVALANCHE. Tifa decided not to insist on it, if he wanted to tell her, he would.

"It's just... I wish I could bring her home to somethin' better, ya know." he said, followed by a sigh.

Tifa could totally understand his feelings and laid a hand on his arm. "I know, but Marlene loves you, that's what matters."

"But it ain't healthy for her out here."

"That's why you can come to the bar, we'll always be happy to help out."

Barret laid his only hand he had left on top of Tifa's, making it seem like her hand was that one of a toddler. "Thank the gods we have the bar."

"Yes, about that. Jessie told me you wanted to ask me something concerning the bar." Tifa said.

"Ah yeah. Well ya see, we're in need of more money so I was wondering if ya could..." Tifa leaned closer to Barret when he had turned around to pick up a bag on the floor. He placed it on the table next to him. "If ya could prepare meals in the bar."

Tifa's eyebrows rose and she was about to ask questions when Barret continued. "Marlene's always talking about how good your food is." He opened the bag on the table, revealing all sorts of vegetables. "And 'cause Jessie's a horrible cook, I hoped ya'd want to start a menu for the costumers... That way we can make more profit."

Tifa didn't know what to say at first, she was still processing the thought of cooking meals for dozens of people. On top of that, she knew Barret needed the money for AVALANCHE, but of course he didn't say it to her that way. It was time to ask questions, she couldn't hold back the curiosity anymore.

"What does _AVALANCHE_ want to do with the extra money?" Tifa asked, pronouncing the word with every letter perfectly articulated.

Barret was at loss when Tifa looked at him and folded her arms, her weight was on one leg. He scratched the back of his head. "Well... I guess ya have the right to know..."

"We need the money to create bombs." Barret said and held his breath to wait for Tifa's reaction. "I already thought so..."

Tifa noticed the confused look on Barret's face and snorted, her arms still folded. "Don't look so surprised, you really need to learn to keep your voice down sometimes."

Barret didn't react until Tifa started to laugh, he laughed with her. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Tifa knew she had to make a decision when Barret looked at her full of expectations, he almost, just _almost _looked like abig puppy waiting for its treat. How could she let him down now? She wanted to do it, she knew she wanted to, the only thing holding her back was the thought of Cloud and Zack. She would be going against them by providing AVALANCHE with equipment, but that would also mean going against Shinra and that was exactly what she wanted.

She knew she had to do it.

"Okay, I'll do it." she said firmly and giggled as Barret threw his hands in the air out of joy. "Yes! You're an angel!"

* * *

><p>"AVALANCHE has been very quiet lately, we haven't heard from them in what...like 5 months?" Zack said while he was laying on his back on Cloud's sofa. He was throwing a weight up in the air to work his arm muscles.<p>

Cloud was doing some paperwork at the table, he looked up lazily and let out a long sigh.

"Yeah something like that. I'm not complaining, less work for us."

Zack chuckled. "You're right about that."

Silence filled the rather small apartment for a 1st class SOLDIER. Until Zack got up and sat down at the table.

"You know Aerith says their goals aren't so crazy." Zack started and Cloud rolled his eyes, taking a deep annoyed breath. "Yes I know, you've mentioned that before."

Zack ignored Cloud's annoyance and placed his hands on the table, tapping it with his fingers.

"Sometimes I think that maybe we should hear them out, you know."

Cloud stopped writing reports and looked at Zack. "You go say that to the President." Zack dropped his shoulders, he was annoyed, of course he knew what the President's reaction would be. This time, Cloud ignored Zack's reaction. "You'd probably get poisoned or shot in the head if you're lucky."

Zack huffed, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair. "I know that, but just if you think about it... I mean if you look at where Aerith lives."

"It's sad I know, but it's a system that goes for most large cities. There's always a great gap between the rich and the poor." Cloud paused and sighed. "We can't solve every problem."

Zack didn't react. Although he knew Cloud was right, it didn't _feel_ right to him. He got up and looked at the clock on the wall.

"We're supposed to meet Aerith in half an hour. Are you coming?"

Cloud shook his head. "You go on ahead, I'll finish this first."

Zack clacked his tongue and hit Cloud's shoulder in a way that would injure most people, but SOLDIERS weren't most people. Cloud barely felt it.

"You should learn how to have some fun, Strife."

Cloud didn't even turn to face him as he waved his hand with the middle finger stuck out, a clear sign to get the hell out of his apartment. Zack laughed as he shut the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Cloud was walking through sector 5 towards the train station. The train would take him underneath the plate and into the slums of Sector 5 where Aerith lived. He yawned, he hadn't slept much last night, but it was more an automatism than a corporal need. SOLDIERS could go days without sleep.<p>

He was about to head into a different street when he spotted a familiar head of black long hair. The smile was formed automatically on his face when he saw Tifa coming out of a grocery store. She hadn't noticed him yet so he walked up to her and then she finally waved at him.

"Hi Cloud!" she exclaimed as she jogged over to the other side of the street, the bag full of groceries hanging from her elbow.

"Hey, what're you doing in Sector 5?" he asked while he curiously looked at the bag.

"Shopping for groceries, there's more to buy here than in Sector 7." she replied.

Cloud raised an eyebrow when he judged the size of the bag. "Are you feeding an army nowadays?"

Tifa chuckled and shook her head. "We've added a menu to the bar, it's proving to be a great success!"

"Oh really? Maybe I should come over for lunch sometimes." Cloud smiled at her and he noticed a faint blush on her cheeks, she looked at the ground. "Yeah you should."

She looked pretty cute with her pink cheeks. She was dressed in blue jeans, a black winter coat - which was probably too warm for the weather nowadays - and her trademark red scarf.

Suddenly Cloud remembered what he came to do.

"So hey, I'm on my way to Aerith, it's not that far from here, you comin'?"

Tifa thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah sure, why not."

Tifa followed Cloud to the train station and once they got their seats she placed the heavy bag of groceries on her lap. Cloud explained the train was going to the slums and asked Tifa if she had ever been there.

"Yeah... It's horrible..."

Cloud heard her sigh and she stared at the floor. He had expected her to react that way, Tifa seemed like the caring woman.

"I know, but you'll see something very special where we're going." Cloud said and smiled. "Something to remind you of Nibelheim."

Tifa's eyes shot up at Cloud and she looked very tense at the mention of their hometown.

"Did the place change a lot?" he asked while thinking back of the small village, full of grass and flowers.

Tifa didn't answer and Cloud looked her way, her body was trembling. He instantly began to worry.

"Tifa? Are you okay?"

Before he could really worry, Tifa smiled at him, though it felt more like a forced smile.

"No, not at all. It's still exactly the same."

Cloud waited for a moment, to be sure Tifa was really fine and then he snorted. "I thought as much."

"...So have you fought a lot? You know, being a 1st class SOLDIER and all." Tifa suddenly asked and Cloud wondered why she would want to know something like that. Didn't women hate violence?

"Uh, well. I guess yeah." he answered, not really sure what she expected to hear from him.

"But it's not like it's life threatening right?"

Cloud frowned, but Tifa smiled, she seemed impatient for the answer. He was getting a little bit suspicious of her questions.

"Not really, we're 1st class for a reason."

Tifa let out a hum and leaned back in her chair. "I think we're there."

* * *

><p>Tifa tightened the scarf around her neck when they excited the train, but to her surprise the air down in the slums of Sector 5 wasn't as suffocating as she had expected. She followed closely behind Cloud and when they came around the corner, Tifa forgot to breathe and Cloud smiled at her reaction to the church. She was in complete awe, she had never seen such a beautiful constructed building. There was a ray of sunlight coming through a hole in the plate, it gave the church an ethereal glow.<p>

"It's amazing." Tifa spoke, not really addressing anybody.

"Let's go inside." Cloud said and from the moment he pushed the doors open a high pitched voice yelled his name. "Cloud!"

Tifa stepped back in surprise when a young woman in a bright pink dress tackled Cloud with a hug. It had gone so quickly, Tifa hadn't even seen Zack standing there too.

"It's been so long!" the woman exclaimed and she looked up to Cloud, he smiled widely. "Hi Aerith."

Tifa took a moment to take in Aerith's features. She wore a beautiful long pink dress and her brown hair was tied up with a red ribbon. Together with the smile painted on her face, she was absolutely a gorgeous woman and Tifa felt a pang of jealousy seeing Cloud embracing her so casually. Couldn't he be like that with her? What was his relationship with Aerith anyway?

"What took you so long! You were supposed to be here half an hour ago."

Zack walked over to them and laughed mockingly. "He was too busy being boring."

Cloud rolled his eyes and then Tifa cleared her throat, making everyone look at her. Aerith turned to her and a wide smile appeared on her face. She suddenly grabbed her wrists, shaking them making Tifa pull back in a startle.

"So you must be Tifa. I've already heard about you." Aerith said and let go of Tifa and smiled, this time stretching out her hand which Tifa slowly took. "Nice to meet you."

As Tifa slowly pulled away her gaze from Aerith she gaped at the inside of the church and almost immediately her eyes fell on the colourful flowers at the back of the church. Tifa's mouth fell open.

_Flowers, there are flowers here!_

She walked over to the small circle of bright yellow flowers. She crouched down to get closer and stretched out her hand into the sunlight, moving her hand around to feel the warmth on her skin and then slowly and very carefully she touched a single flower. The texture of the petals almost felt strange to her, though it had only been 2 months since she last touched a flower.

Tifa looked to the side when Aerith crouched down next to her, smiling as she looked at her creation.

"You like it?" she softly asked.

"I love it." Tifa said and returned Aerith's smile. "It's been so long since I've seen flowers."

Then they both looked behind them when they heard footsteps coming closer. Cloud folded his arms and grinned at Tifa. "I knew you'd like it." Tifa beamed with happiness.

"It's the only place in Midgar where the soil is fertile enough to grow flowers." Zack explained and Tifa nodded. "Aerith takes good care of them."

"She definitely does." Tifa got up and brushed the dirt from her jeans. "This place is so beautiful." She murmured while looking around.

"It's great to escape the busy life once in a while." Cloud said and put his hands in pockets. Tifa couldn't but agree with him, she could already picture herself enjoying a good book on one of the benches, but then her daydream got interrupted by her phone buzzing.

_"Be sure to be back by 10. Meeting this evening! Kiss kiss!"_

Tifa smiled at Jessie's text and put her phone away. "I need to go, I wouldn't want to upset my boss."

Zack and Cloud snorted at her comment and nodded. Tifa turned to Aerith.

"It was really nice meeting you Aerith."

"Likewise." Aerith said and before Tifa could walk away she stopped her. "Do you want to take one home?"

Tifa glanced from Aerith to the flowers. "Oh no... it would only wither. But thanks!"

Tifa felt the stares of the three of them on her back as she walked towards the entrance to the church, she picked up the bag of groceries and waved at them one last time before leaving.

* * *

><p>By the time Tifa was walking through Sector 6, it had already gotten dark and the orange streetlights turned the atmosphere around, it had gotten quieter and almost peaceful. Tifa could really enjoy the quiet walks in the city at night time, it gave her the possibility to think about absolutely nothing.<p>

Suddenly her peaceful mind got disturbed by a scream in the distance. It came from a woman. Tifa immediately started to run towards the source of the cries. When she found a woman laying on the ground, bleeding from a wound on her forehead, Tifa gasped in shock and rushed to her, dropping the bag of groceries in the process.

"Hey! Who are you?" a young voice suddenly yelled. "Get outta the way!"

Tifa snapped her eyes to the two small figures in front of them and was looking directly at the barrel of a gun, she widened her eyes.

"Woah! What's going on?" Tifa threw her hands up and got up hearing the woman behind her whimper.

They were two young boys, no older than 12.

"Go away! We need her money! That filthy rich woman!" yelled the boy holding the gun and who was now aiming at Tifa.

"What?"

Tifa couldn't see the boys' faces very well because of the poor lighting, but she was certain she knew those two. When she had dropped off Marlene, she had seen them begging for money in the slums of Sector 7 , she was sure of it.

"You boys live in the slums of Sector 7 right?" Tifa then said and, still careful with her movements and she noticed how they both grew nervous and impatient. "It doesn't matter, give us the money!"

The woman on the floor struggled to sit up and shook her head. "I don't have anything on me, please..."

The boy with the gun thrust it forward. "Lies! Where is it!"

Tifa stepped forward, clenching her fists. "She doesn't have anything, leave her alone! Go home!"

That must have done it because the boy without a gun started to sob and the other one suddenly started to shake. "Keep it together." he hissed through his teeth.

But the younger boy shook his head and he looked at Tifa with pain in his eyes. "We don't have a home."

"Neal don't talk to her! What are you doing?"

The boy named Neal didn't react and continued. "No, we're not like this. Why are we doing this?" Tears began to well up in his eyes and the other boy lowered his gun as he looked down, brown bangs covering his eyes.

Tifa took another step forward and held out her hands. She tried her best not to scare them. "Just... Just drop the gun. You boys are better than that."

"C'mon Tobias, do it." Neal pleaded and after a while Tobias slowly opened his hand and the gun slid out of it and dropped to the ground.

Tobias then looked up, his eyes glimmering because of the tears that threatened to fall down. "Please, we just want to eat."

Tifa let out a sigh of relief when she saw the gun laying on the ground. She lowered her hands and she pointed to the bag of groceries. The boys followed her hand and then glanced at her before she nodded and they ran to it. When they saw it held all sorts of vegetables they looked up to her in shock.

"Take it and go." she hadn't even hesitated to say it.

Disbelief still present in their eyes, the two boys didn't dare to move until Tifa turned her back to them and crouched down to the injured woman.

"Can you stand up?" she quietly asked and the woman nodded.

She leaned on Tifa to be able to get back on her feet and winced when Tifa moved the injured arm around her neck to support the woman.

"I'm sorry..."

Tifa slowly turned around to face the two boys when she heard the whisper from behind her. Tobias had swung the bag over his shoulder and stared at the ground. Neal was still sobbing.

"We didn't mean to..." his voice broke off and he looked up at Tifa and the woman. "Sorry."

"Go." Tifa firmly said and the two boys ran off.

* * *

><p>Because she had helped the woman back to her home and had tended to her wounds, Tifa arrived at the bar too late. She knew the meeting had already started and when she entered the bar, she went straight upstairs without even putting her keys away. She violently swung the door to the living room open and it collided with the wall with a loud thump. Several pairs of eyes stared at her in confusion and shock.<p>

"I want in."

* * *

><p>That's all for now. Please leave a review because it's very helpful to me. If the story goes as I've planned in my head, it will get pretty big so I could use all the feedback I can get. So do review!<p>

**Coming up in Chapter 5: the plan and Tifa is pissed off with Cloud**


	5. Chapter 5: Determination

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII is property of Square Enix.

First of all I want to thank the people who took the time to review my story, you guys rock! I also want to take the time reply to some of the questions.

Cloud does not know about what happened in Nibelheim, he was never there with Zack and Sephiroth and why Zack never told Cloud is something that will come up later in the story. I chose to give Cloud a more arrogant attitude since I want him to represent the loyal SOLDIER to Shinra. He actually made it into 1st class and that gave him a cocky attitude. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Zack has his doubts about Shinra, which opposes to Cloud's loyalty to them.

Remember, this story is very AU, so you can expect a lot of twists to the original plot and characters. I will include certain characters and others not.

On with the story! Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 5:<span> Determination  
><strong>

Jessie was the first who was able to speak after Tifa had casually sat down around the table and had folded her arms.

"What?" was the only thing Jessie could say.

"You heard me, I want to join AVALANCHE." Tifa said, her voice was steady and determined. She wasn't about to show any signs of hesitation, she was determined to do this.

Suddenly everyone started to react at the same time and the whole room was filled with chaotic discussions until Barret got up and slammed his fist on the table, making everyone shut up abruptly. He intently gazed at Tifa who hadn't even flinched when Barret had hit the table. He squinted his eyes and Tifa stared back at him, not moving one muscle.

"Tifa, joining us ain't a walk in the park." Barret spoke, he sounded very serious.

"I know, I can take care of myself." Tifa replied, her expression was still not showing any sign of doubt. Barret paused for a while. "Once you in, there ain't goin' back."

When Tifa nodded once, Jessie jumped out of her chair, knocking it down in the process.

"Barret, what're you doing? It's too dangerous!" she shouted in a hurry, her hands placed flat on the table, she turned to face Tifa. "You said you didn't want to be involved... And Cloud and Zack...What changed your mind?"

Tifa looked into Jessie's eyes full of worry and then gazed at the table, she _knew _she would betray her friends, but she had to do it, she wanted to fight Shinra."I never changed my mind... I guess... I was too scared to get involved..." Tifa paused, she tensed her muscles out of frustration. "But I want to _do _something! I don't want to be scared any more. I want to fight!" She took a deep breath, relaxing her muscles. "And besides... I have my own score to settle with Shinra."

Everyone was staring at the table in silence, no one reacted. Tifa sighed and shook her head.

"I just..." Tifa began and clenched her fist. "I want to do what's right. Shinra is controlling us, they are toying with us like we're puppets. I won't watch any longer how they destroy everything I love. So... please let me help."

Then Jessie repositioned her chair and sat down. She rested her hands in her lap and looked up to the rest of AVALANCHE. Tifa held her breath as she saw everyone glancing at each other as if they were unsure to speak for themselves. Then Jessie nodded at her and slightly smiled.

"We can use all the help we can get."

Tifa immediately let out a sigh of relief and smiled back. Barret sat back down and grinned happily at Tifa.

"Glad to have ya with us!"

Once he nodded at her, Tifa grinned back and she heard several cheers around her.

"Welcome to AVALANCHE Tifa." Wedge said and Tifa nodded to thank him.

Also Biggs and Jessie officially welcomed her and once everyone had said their thing, Tifa wanted to get straight down to business.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked and glanced from Jessie to Barret and back.

"It's your plan Barret, you explain it." Jessie said and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms.

Barret grumbled and took out a map showing the entire city. He turned the map so that Tifa could read all the little notes and names scribbled down on it and he laid his finger on a certain spot on the map. "Reactor 5." Tifa read and Barret nodded.

"We're targeting the 8 reactors surrounding the city?" Tifa asked and Biggs shook his head. "For now, we're only targeting one reactor."

Barret then moved his finger towards the centre of the city, near Sector 7, Tifa raised her eyebrows. "We're targeting the Headquarters? Isn't that a bit too risky?"

"No Tifa, look closer." Jessie said and Tifa nearly pressed her nose onto the map when she saw 4 big circles drawn next to the Headquarters and a word she could barely read. "The mako storages..." she muttered to herself.

"Exactly." Barret said and leaned back in his chair, a smug smile was written on his face.

"Shinra keeps an important supply of mako stored in large containers next to their Headquarters in case of emergency." Jessie explained and Barret huffed. "They'll get an emergency! We'll hit 'em where it hurts!" he shouted and Jessie rolled her eyes, she was trying to explain everything to Tifa because Barret was doing a horrible job.

"Blowing up the storages would not only send out a nice message, but would also damage the pipes going underground next to the containers." Jessie calmly explained and Tifa began to nod. "Those pipes are meant to guide the extracted mako from the Lifestream to the Headquarters to be processed." Tifa said and Jessie smiled. "Indeed, if we can damage those pipes, we could interrupt the extraction for quite a while."

Barret let out a loud grunt of agreement. "Those idiots won't know what'll hit 'em!"

Biggs and Wedge cheered him on as he pumped another fist into the air, but Jessie ignored him.

"But we can only do that if we use 4 smaller bombs on each container, using a big one would kill too many innocent people."

"But... placing those bombs would take some time wouldn't it? And that place is heavily guarded." Tifa started to think out loud and that's when everyone started to grin.

"That's why we'll first attack Reactor 5 at the border of the city." Jessie said.

Tifa started to realize how the plan made perfect sense, she let out a short laugh. "To draw attention to the Reactor and to lure the SOLDIERS away from the storages. It's a diversion." Tifa leaned back in her chair, smiling. "It's brilliant."

"'Course it is!" Barret said and started to laugh.

Then Tifa also started to realize bombing Reactor 5 would be really difficult. Each reactor was heavily secured. They would need a fail proof plan to pull that off.

"But still, it's very risky. Those reactors are very difficult to get to." she said and everyone agreed with her.

"Oh we know. Since our last attempt to bomb one of the reactors, they have increased the security." Biggs said and he continued. "But Wedge and I are working on copying the key cards to the entrance of the reactor. The plan is to avoid most of the guards and to access the reactor by using the underground tunnels near Sector 4."

Tifa let all the information sink in and she started to think this wasn't as crazy as she first had thought, they obviously had been putting a lot of work into the plan.

"So we gotta split up in 2 groups." Barret continued and Jessie took over afterwards.

"Biggs and Wedge have already agreed on bombing the reactor since they have the most knowledge about the security system." at which Biggs and Wedge gave a confirming nod. "And I will place the bombs around the storages while Barret fights off the guards. I predict we will have about 5 minutes until the SOLDIERS will return. In those 5 minutes we have to place the bombs and get the hell out of there or we're all screwed."

Tifa swallowed at the thought of getting blown up and she took a deep breath. "Okay, I get it. What can I do to help?"

"Actually we were looking for someone to help me with the placement of the bombs around the storages. I don't think I can pull it off alone." Jessie said.

"I can do that." Tifa said and smiled, she knew she could do it. "I'm pretty fast."

"And if ya can punch the crap out of a SOLDIER, ya can handle yourself out there!" Barret added with a loud laugh and Tifa accusingly looked over at Jessie who just sheepishly smiled.

"C'mon! I had to tell them!" she threw up her hands in defense and Tifa just rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"So I guess we'll start preparing then?"

Tifa smiled as everyone nodded. She could literally feel the excitement in her bones.

* * *

><p>"So how do you and Cloud know each other?" Aerith asked.<p>

Tifa didn't turn to look at her, she just kept on walking straight forward, the basket full of bright yellow flowers swaying with every step she took. She was helping Aerith sell the flowers in Sector 5 since she was planning on growing new ones in the church. Tifa had been surprised to see Aerith sell her flowers so cheap, she only asked one gil for each one. Tifa knew she could sell them for a lot more since they were so rare in Midgar. She had told Aerith and the answer was still stuck in her head.

_"I don't want to make profit with these flowers, I just want to brighten up the city."_

Tifa still couldn't believe how she could have been jealous of Aerith. She was such a nice and selfless woman and on top of that it was painfully obvious Zack and Aerith had feelings for each other. Tifa thought they didn't realize it themselves, otherwise they would have been together a long time ago.

"Tifa?"

Tifa was startled when she felt Aerith's warm hand on her arm and she forced out a chuckle.

"I'm sorry what did you say?"

"Well how do you and Cloud know each other?" Aerith repeated her question.

"Oh... well Cloud lived next door when we were kids." Tifa said and Aerith managed to sell yet another flower.

"You must have been close then."

Tifa looked to Aerith who smiled at her and she immediately averted her eyes in shame.

"We weren't..." Tifa muttered and Aerith gave her questioning look. "We were never really good friends, I was one of the popular kids you see..."

Aerith reacted with a simple 'oh' and Tifa sighed. "I'm not exactly proud of it."

"Well it's in the past, I wouldn't worry about it anymore."

A soft smile comforted Tifa in a way only Aerith could pull off. She was the master of cheering people up, one smile from her and you forgot about all of your problems. Tifa very much appreciated that talent of her.

"I do miss the blue skies though..." Tifa said, followed by a short sigh. She thought back to her childhood when she could play outside in the sun and gaze at the blue sky all day long. Sadly this was impossible in Midgar due to all the pollution.

"I would love to see that someday..." Aerith said with a dreamy look on her face and Tifa widened her eyes. "You mean, you've never been outside the city?"

Aerith then shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know, I don't remember that much from my childhood."

Tifa felt sorry for her. She wasn't particularly proud of her behaviour as a child, but she had many fond memories of her childhood. She couldn't imagine not remembering any of it, she wouldn't even remember her own mother.

"You know what. One day I'll take you to see the blue sky." Tifa said and gave Aerith a warm smile. Aerith's eyes lit up and she smiled widely.

"I'd like that."

Both women chuckled at each other before continuing their stroll through Sector 7. Selling the flowers was not hard at all, but Tifa liked being around Aerith. There was something about her that relaxed Tifa and made her feel at peace in this complex situation she had worked herself into. She wasn't starting to doubt her choice, but the constant lying began to weigh down on her. It didn't help that lately, Cloud was constantly hanging around the bar. Tifa loved being with him, but she hated being reminded of her approaching betrayal each time they would talk. She wished she could just tell him everything and convince him to abandon SOLDIER, but she knew that wasn't about to happen, no matter how hard she could wish for it. Lying to him made her feel like she could break down in tiny pieces, shattering on the ground. Up until now it was the most difficult job she had to do for AVALANCHE. It made her feel sick.

When Aerith and Tifa arrived at Seventh Heaven later that afternoon, Jessie was already serving drinks to Cloud and Zack, they had been waiting for them.

Aerith happily ran towards Zack and placed her basket - that was now filled with only a few flowers - on the bar next to Zack and hugged him just a little bit too long before hugging Cloud. Tifa just kept it at 'hello' to avoid awkward situations with Cloud and walked over to Jessie behind the bar. She placed her empty basket on the floor.

"Looks like everything's sold out." Zack pointed out proudly and Aerith smiled at him. "Yeah, Tifa really helped me out. Thank you."

Tifa got startled at the mention of her name. "Oh, it was my pleasure."

"Are those for the bar?" Jessie curiously asked, pointing at the few flowers in the basket and Aerith nodded. Jessie's face lit up and she smiled widely before she started to rummage through one of the cabins. "Hold on, I got something for it." And then she took out a simple white vase and filled it up with water.

Tifa took the remaining flowers out of the basket and carefully placed them into the vase, arranging them into a lovely bouquet.

"It's perfect!" Jessie squealed. "Thank you Aerith!"

"So, let's toast to Aerith's flowers!" Zack exclaimed and grinned as he lifted up his beer into the air. They all followed his movement and after a while of chatting, Cloud's phone rang.

"I have to go, duty calls." he said, sliding the phone into the pocket of his black trousers.

"Bye Cloud!" Aerith and Jessie said and Zack just shortly waved at him.

Tifa warmly smiled at him as his gorgeous eyes gazed into hers. He then walked away and disappeared behind the door. When Tifa collected his empty glass, she noticed his keys were still laying on the counter. She took the cold metallic keys in her hand and they made a rattling noise when Tifa started to walk to the door.

"He forgot his keys, I'll go get him!" she quickly shouted as she opened the door and ran up the Cloud who had luckily not gone that far.

"Cloud!"

He turned around, puzzled by Tifa's sudden appearance.

"Here, you forgot your keys."

Tifa stretched out her arm, showing the keys in her hand, Cloud smiled.

"Stupid of me... Thanks Tifa." he said.

His hand reached for her own and slightly and ever so softly brushed her fingers before clasping around the keys. Tifa felt her heart skip a beat as his blue eyes were locked onto her own. She felt her cheeks heat up and she quickly pulled her hand away while letting out a forced chuckle.

"No problem... uh, be careful." she mumbled and turned around to head back to the bar.

She could kick herself for becoming such a helpless woman around Cloud. It wasn't like her and yet every time Cloud would softly touch her, her heart would begin to race and she would feel like the rest of the world didn't matter anymore. She realized she was attracted to Cloud, but tried to ignore her feelings.

It would make things so much easier if she could just stop feeling for a moment.

* * *

><p>That night, Tifa and Barret were walking through Sector 6 after they had sneaked into Sector 0 to observe the place one last time. They needed to be absolutely sure about the kind of force they were up against. There was no room for mistakes or they would pay a high price.<p>

"I'd say we pretty much set." Barret said as he put away the small binoculars in his pocket.

"Yep, it was the same as last time. 5 SOLDIERS and around 10 roboguards." Tifa muttered and smiled at Barret. "I think we should head back now."

Barret nodded to her and when they arrived at the Sector 7 gate a while later, Tifa was startled when she heard someone call out her name. She turned around and saw it was Cloud. Barret immediately tensed up next to her.

"Cloud!" she exclaimed and smiled at him.

However Cloud didn't smile back, instead he frowned at the sight of Barret.

"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously, he had his huge sword placed behind his back.

"I just came back from my mission. Tifa, what are you doing?"

When Tifa wanted to answer the question, Barret took a step forward and suddenly Cloud grabbed Tifa's arm and pulled her behind him. She let out a yelp of surprise..

"Hey wha-?" she began, but Cloud harshly broke her off.

"What are you doing hanging around him?" he said, keeping his voice down, but still holding her arm and glancing back at Barret who glared back at him.

Tifa furrowed her brow. "He's my friend." she slowly said, looking into Cloud's glowing blue eyes with sternness. "We were just heading back to our homes."

Tifa felt the hold on her arm getting stronger. "I told you to stay away from him." Cloud quietly insisted and Tifa pulled back in shock. "What?"

"You could get arrested for hanging around with the wrong people!" Cloud hissed and pointed an accusing finger at Barret who stepped forward, waving his prostate hand around in anger.

"Hey! Who're _you _callin' the wrong people?" he angrily snapped.

Cloud angrily glared at Barret. "Keep out of this!"

Tifa then had enough, she pulled her arm away with brute force and stepped back. Meanwhile Barret had gotten closer to Cloud and he was growling dangerously. "Ya can't tell her what to do, ya stuck up Shinra brat!"

"What did you say?" Cloud snarled at Barret.

The usually beautiful glow in his blue eyes changed into a sign of anger and danger. Before Cloud could close the distance between him and Barret, Tifa jumped in front of the AVALANCHE leader. She was glaring at her childhood friend.

"Tifa." Cloud dangerously said, a sign to get aside.

"Barret, go." Tifa quickly said and she stayed firmly in place, she wasn't about to have Barret arrested.

When Barret ran off, Cloud angrily stepped up to her.

"What are you thinking? You shouldn't be friends with that terrorist!" his harsh words dug deep into her skin and she started to tremble. She clenched her fists.

"Barret is _not_ a terrorist! He is a good man with a good heart and he is my _friend_!" she yelled, leaning closer to Cloud to show him she was not afraid to stand up to him.

"Tifa! I'm just trying to protect you!" Cloud shouted back in frustration and Tifa shook her head in disappointment.

"From who? From Barret or from Shinra?"

Her comment made Cloud calm down for a second.

"Why are you protecting him?"

"Because he's my friend!" Tifa exclaimed, throwing up her hands into the air.

"You can't be friends with him." Cloud said and Tifa took another step back in shock, she started to tremble in anger. "I can do whatever the hell I want!"

"No you can't! This is Midgar! If you wanted to do _whatever the hell you want_, you should've stayed in Nibelheim!" Cloud roared, walking closer to Tifa as if he wanted to intimidate her.

Tifa gasped and froze on the spot, she was too shocked to move. Cloud's expression softened for a second when he saw the shock she was in. Tifa was breathing heavily and she felt the tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to cry. Not after what he had said.

"It's because of Shinra I left that place!" she yelled, the tears stinging in her eyes. "But I guess Zack never told you!"

"Told me what? What are you hiding from me?!" Cloud yelled in frustration.

"Why don't you ask him!" Tifa spat, taking her distance with her childhood friend.

Then, for a moment, Cloud was lost for words and Tifa couldn't hold her tears back anymore. They uncontrollably started to roll down her cheeks.

"I did, but he never wanted to tell me..." Cloud quietly spoke.

Tifa then turned around, taking her anger and her sadness with her as she ran away from Cloud as fast as she could.

* * *

><p>Please don't forget to review! The next chapter will be action packed, I promise!<p>

**Up next:**** AVALANCHE strikes back**


	6. Chapter 6: AVALANCHE strikes back

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII**

To answer some of the questions: Genesis and Angeal won't appear in this story. I never played Crisis Core and only have knowledge about the game through information on the Internet. I won't include them because I think I wouldn't be able to write them properly.

Nibelheim never got burned down by Sephiroth, Cloud's mother never died in the fire , she is still alive.

A last note: Cloud uses his sword from Advent Children and Zack the Buster Sword.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 6<span>: AVALANCHE strikes back**

The atmosphere in Seventh Heaven had never been so tense, Tifa felt the need to open a window just to be able to breathe. Judging by the way Jessie was sitting in her chair - arms closely wrapped around her stomach - Tifa could see Jessie was feeling exactly the same way, like she could throw up any minute now.

Tifa felt horrible. She hadn't been able to sleep after her fight with Cloud and the nerves that had started to kick in for today's mission hadn't been very helpful either. This whole situation made her feel so tired and a faint pain throbbed in the back of her head. The sick feeling was getting worse with every minute they had to wait for Barret and every minute Tifa had to think about her fight with Cloud.

Tifa shook her head and clenched her fists. The sadness she had felt right after the fight had turned into anger overnight. An anger fuelled by Cloud's horrible words and the thought of bringing down Shinra. She was determined to go through with this, even though her body was disagreeing with her.

Luckily enough, there was a knock on the door a few minutes later. She turned around when Barret, Biggs and Wedge entered the bar. Unlike herself and Jessie, the three men seemed to be very concentrated and wide awake. Barret frowned when he saw Jessie clutching her stomach.

"Ah c'mon Jess! This ain't no time to panic! We doin' this, get up!" he shouted as he walked past her and placed a small bag on one of the tables.

"You know I always get sick before a mission!" Jessie yelled back and weirdly enough , she sounded a lot more determined after Barret had scolded her. Tifa also felt better. There was something about his choice of words that kicked Tifa in the gut and woke her up. They were doing this no matter what. Or, at least that's what Barret had said last night during the last meeting.

_"We doin' this! No matter what happens! We'll hit 'em where it damn hurts!"_

By repeating Barret's words in her head, Tifa felt the energy return to her body and she walked over to the table. Barret emptied the bag and revealed several tiny earpieces. They would use those nifty - and especially _expensive _- little things to communicate. They all took one and placed it into their right ear and hid the thin wire underneath their clothes.

"Can everyone hear me?" Biggs then asked and they all nodded. "Loud and clear?" Wedge continued and once again everyone confirmed with a nod.

"Alright we're all set." Biggs concluded, followed by a deep breath. Everyone followed his example to calm the nerves down.

"I guess we need to get goin'." Wedge said and Biggs agreed. "Yeah, timing is key."

"Good luck." Jessie said and managed to get out a smile.

"Be careful." Tifa added and they both nodded and smiled. "You too."

Barret laid his hands on their shoulders and squeezed. "Let's do it."

Biggs and Wedge then walked out of the door and the last thing Tifa could see was the gray van they were using to move the bomb - speed away.

"We gotta go." Barret suddenly said and Tifa took a deep breath. She was ready for this. She reached for the leather black gloves in her jeans' pocket and slid them around her hands, she formed a fist and looked up.

Two bag packs were placed on the table and Jessie took the first one. She carefully placed it on her back and adjusted the straps around her body to keep the bag from moving around, which was pretty important if you were moving 2 bombs around on your back.

Tifa copied Jessie and made sure the bag was secured tightly against her back. She nodded.

"We're ready."

Barret laid his hand on the steel hand-like construction that was attached to his right arm as if to check it was still there. It was his weapon after all.

"Let's do this." he said and Jessie looked at the watch on her left arm and then she clicked the timer and it started to count. They had to know how fast they could get there.

Before Tifa ran after her two friends, she zipped up her black leather jacket and closed the door behind her, sliding the keys into her pocket.

* * *

><p>Cloud was pounding his fist on Zack's door. He knew the black haired SOLDIER was probably still sleeping, he always slept until noon on a Saturday. When he heard no sign of an immediate response, he started to yell while still pounding on the door. He made sure Zack would hear the ruckus outside.<p>

"Zack open the door!"

Through the curtains of the apartment windows, Cloud could see movement in the apartment. A minute later Zack opened the door. He was still in his boxers and judging by the sleepy glare he was sending out, Cloud had woken him up from a nice dream.

"What the hell Cloud, I was just having a nice nap." Zack said, his voice was still husky and he lazily scratched his head.

Cloud ignored Zack and stepped inside the apartment. Zack raised an eyebrow and closed the door again, mumbling several things Cloud couldn't understand. "Hello to you too..."

"Zack, what happened in Nibelheim?" Cloud got right to the point. He had been thinking about it all night after his fight with Tifa and he was going to go crazy if he didn't get the answer soon. It must have been something very important if it upset Tifa that much.

"What? You woke me up for that?" Zack sighed out of annoyance and shuffled to the kitchen, probably to get some coffee to wake him up.

Cloud followed Zack to the kitchen. "What happened, you promised to tell me."

Zack had his back turned to him but Cloud could tell Zack was getting tenser.

"Cloud I've alread-"

"No more excuses Zack, I want to know right here right now."

"... Cloud I..."

"It has something to do with Shinra. What happened to Tifa?"

"... It's complicated."

"Zack, I swear!"

Cloud hadn't noticed how worked up he had become when he relaxed his clenched fists and took a deep breath. Zack wasn't looking at him, he kept his gaze fixed on the floor.

"I've been to Nibelheim 3 years ago. That's when I met Tifa." Zack began.

Cloud folded his arms and leaned against the wall, gazing at Zack who sighed as he sipped from his coffee.

"I was there to investigate the mako reactor in the mountains together with-"

Zack broke off his sentence when his phone on the kitchen table started to ring. Shortly after Zack answered the phone, Cloud's phone also rang. Cloud turned around when he placed to phone to his ear and started to walk around.

"Cloud here."

"You are immediately summoned to Headquarters to investigate suspicious activities. There's already a helicopter waiting for you."

"What? Now?"

"Yes immediately."

Before Cloud could protest he heard a click and he sighed when he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Then Zack waked past Cloud in a hurry.

"Gotta go, they need me in Sector 5." Zack said and hurried to his bedroom.

Cloud was annoyed that once again Zack's story had been interrupted, but decided to put it aside for now. His job came first.

"I'm going to Headquarters. See you later!"

* * *

><p>Tifa could hear Barret puffing while he was climbing the narrow ladder that led all the way up to Sector 0. It wasn't the most comfortable way to reach their destination, but it was the safest way to get up there without being seen. Tifa could hear Barret's heavy breathing and let out an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes.<p>

"Barret we're only halfway, stop acting like you're dying and climb!"

"This damn ladder!" he cried out.

"Shhtt you idiot! Keep it down!" Tifa hissed and urged him to keep on climbing, they had to hurry.

Once they got on the small platform right underneath Sector 0 and close to the mako storages, Jessie immediately checked her watch. "Okay we still have some time." her breathing was heavier than usual because of the intense climbing, but Barret was lying on his back, panting. Tifa and Jessie both rolled their eyes at his exaggeration.

"Ha, I- I'm good... yeah I'm good." he managed to get out while he sat down on the metallic construction, he was focusing on his breathing and finally calmed down.

They had to crouch down because of the limited space between the small platform and the wall above them. Barret then activated his earpiece and Jessie and Tifa did the same thing.

"Barret here, how're things goin'?"

"Not too much trouble until now. We've gotten inside and we're installing the bomb." it was Wedge's voice.

Barret started to nod and a smile was formed on his lips. "Good."

Tifa and Jessie both let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay the bomb is set on 8 minutes." Tifa heard Wedge say through her earpiece. And Jessie automatically looked down at her own watch.

"Let's go, Wedge!" Biggs exclaimed and afterwards they heard them running off, their footsteps sounded hollow in the background. A few minutes later, Tifa frowned when she heard some cursing and loud noises.

"Uh-oh... guys we have a problem." it was Wedge.

"What?" Barret immediately asked, but then the three of them suddenly looked up when they heard a faint rattling noise. A sudden wave of panic rushed through Tifa's body when she saw a helicopter flying towards Sector 4 and Reactor 5.

"Oh shit, there's a helicopter comin'!" Barret hissed. "Get outta there now! Hurry!"

Tifa glanced over at Jessie who was also worriedly waiting for a response from their 2 friends.

"Wedge? Biggs?" Barret repeated anxiously.

"Yeah well, helicopter or not, there's no gettin' out. They've installed a new security lockdown system ." Biggs said and he added a short laugh. "Those bastards."

Tifa gasped and widened her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Barret asked, he was still trying to stay calm.

"Our key cards don't work anymore on the entrance door. They must have locked everything down from the outside."

"Is there another way?" Barret asked, Tifa knew he was filled with worries.

They heard Wedge let out a sigh. "No."

"What? There's gotta be another way!" Barret nearly shouted.

"We can't get out. The timer is set. 2 minutes left. Be careful." Biggs said and Jessie started to shake her head.

"No no! Get out now! Stop the timer! There's still time!" Jessie quickly said and Tifa saw how she wiped her sweaty palms off on her trousers.

"We can't give up now Jess. Besides we're trapped in here."

Tifa watched the seconds tick away on Jessie's watch and she closed her eyes tightly, hoping somehow, she could rewind time. This wasn't happening, this couldn't happen. Tifa felt a heavy feeling knotting her stomach. They had to get out, otherwise...

"No you gotta-" "We're doin' this no matter what." Biggs said and Barret widened his eyes, Tifa did too, those were Barret's words. Jessie started to sob, 30 seconds were left.

"No get out!"

"We'll hit 'em where it damn hurts." Wedge said and Tifa could already imagine them grinning while holding up a fist in the air.

Tifa felt her blood rise to her cheeks and she noticed she started to shake. Then she shut her eyes tight when an overwhelming loud noise pierced through her skull. The buzzing sound in the earpiece that followed, made Tifa open her eyes and she gasped.

* * *

><p>5 minutes earlier Cloud was leaning out of the Shinra helicopter, his hair violently danced around with the strong wind blowing around the aircraft. He was scanning Sector 4 for the suspicious vehicle earlier reported by the Headquarters and then there it was. Cloud frowned as he observed the gray van. It was parked near the entrance to the underground tunnels and he could swear that door was open.<p>

"Hey! Get us closer to Reactor 5!" Cloud shouted at the pilot inside, who nodded and steered the helicopter to the right.

If this was AVALANCHE, Cloud would stop them, he had enough of the rebel group. His fight with Tifa had only made him angrier. They weren't going to get away with whatever they had planned. He'd show Tifa that those people were no good.

Cloud dangerously stuck his upper body out of the helicopter, but he was firmly holding on to the sides of the door. It wasn't the first time he had done this after all.

Then he saw the red lights beaming up from the entrance to the reactor. Something had set the alarm off, there was something wrong.

"I'm going in!" he shouted to the pilot.

The very moment he yelled out the instruction, an enormous explosion rose up before his eyes and hurled the helicopter backwards, smacking Cloud against the other side of the aircraft. The adrenaline kicked in as Cloud got back on his feet and checked if the pilot was still conscious, which to his luck was the case. They had to move fast to keep the helicopter from crashing. Cloud helped the pilot back up and he steered the helicopter away from the giant flames rising up from the destroyed reactor. The thick smoke made Cloud cough and he quickly slid the door shut to protect them from the heat and smoke.

"AVALANCHE..." he growled, still gazing at the scene of destruction. He was feeling very bitter inside, he had sworn to stop the rebel group and yet here he was, looking at their success.

"Take us back to Headquarters!" he angrily ordered.

* * *

><p>Tifa was still trembling from the shock when she continued to gaze at the fire blazing in the distance. The smoke painted circular patterns into the sky and she could see the debris falling down. Slowly the noise reached Tifa's ears and she realized she was breathing very fast. She heard Jessie crying and Barret was trembling. Tifa felt a single tear streaming down her cheek and then her head jerked up when she heard footsteps and shouts. The SOLDIERS were leaving, this was their chance. They had to move now.<p>

"We have to go." she could barely keep her voice from shaking. She found the courage to get back on her feet and focused on the footsteps. She sniffed and wiped away the tear on her cheek and then turned to Barret who was still staring at the destroyed reactor in shock.

"Barret! We have to go! Now!"

When Tifa laid her hand on his shoulder, he turned to look at her and Tifa could tell he had lost hope, but she refused to let him give up that easily.

"Come on, we can still do this! For Biggs and Wedge!" Tifa said and then turned to face Jessie, they only had 5 minutes, they had to hurry. Jessie was still sobbing when Tifa crouched down in front of her and roughly grabbed her by her arms.

"Let's go Jess." Tifa said and had to gather all of her courage to keep herself from crying.

"They... They're gone..." Jessie muttered while sniffing and Tifa shook her head. "We have to move now Jessie! Their deaths won't be in vain!"

Jessie looked into Tifa's eyes and then snapped her eyes to the right when Barret had started to climb up.

"Barret!" Jessie exclaimed in disbelief.

Tifa decided to act quickly and ticked on Jessie's watch before going after Barret. "We have 5 minutes! NOW!"

Jessie still hesitated but then set the timer on her watch to 5 minutes and quickly went after Tifa and Barret.

As Tifa flung herself to the platform of Sector 0, she quickly looked around the area to judge the situation and for a second she was relieved most SOLDIERS were gone, but that made the situation only a bit more easy. Her shoulders shot up in a startle when she heard Barret fire his gun arm. The chaotic noise of bullets flying around made her feel dizzy. She took a deep breath to keep herself together and quickly removed the bag pack from her back and ran over to Jessie, who was already climbing down to get to the big containers. Glancing back and forth, Tifa saw how Jessie had successfully installed the first bomb to the base of the farthest container. The bartender quickly made her way to the second one, carefully avoiding the gaps in the metallic floor, and started to get the second bomb ready.

"Tifa! Watch out!" Barret suddenly yelled.

Tifa gasped in surprise when she barely dodged a bullet and in one quick motion, she spun around and saw one of the roboguards charging at her at full speed. She carefully and quickly slid the bag with the 2 remaining bombs behind her and then lunged forward, throwing her fist into the metal machine. The impact was enough to destroy the robot, but Tifa saw others coming at her. While wincing, she quickly pulled her hand back out of the broken machine and kicked it away from her, knocking down another guard in the process.

She turned around and saw Jessie was almost ready with the second bomb, Tifa crouched down, unzipping the bag and carefully taking out the third bomb, she climbed down the small ladder and paid attention to place her feet on the edges of the metallic platform. She handed over the bomb to Jessie.

"3 minutes left." Jessie mumbled to herself when she took over the bomb and started to set the timer.

Tifa got back up and saw Barret was being driven back by the guards that were multiplying by the second.

"Barret!" she screamed in horror when he got hit by a bullet in his shoulder and he fell backwards.

Tifa didn't think about it, she just ran towards a gun lying on the ground and started to fire at the robots threatening to get to Barret, but it was too late, Barret fell down to the plate.

"Barret no!" she yelled and wanted to go after him when Jessie screamed her name.

"Tifa!"

Tifa tore her eyes away from the place where Barret had fallen down and rolled down to avoid getting shot. She pulled the bag with the last bomb away from the gunfire and ran towards Jessie who was panicking.

"I'm stuck! I can't move my foot!"

"What?! Hold on I'll-"

A bullet then grazed Tifa's arm and she yelled out in pain. For a moment she clutched her left arm and then turned around. She fiercely kicked the guards to the ground and took the last bomb out of the bag. When she nearly reached the storages bullets started to rain down next to her and in shock she fell down, but managed to protect the bomb from the impact.

"Tifa!"

"Hold on! I'm coming!" Tifa screamed and got back on her feet, she was panting heavily.

But then, Jessie started to shake her head for it was too late. The farthest installed bomb exploded, the impact made Tifa fall back.

"No no NO!"

Tifa's world stopped when each explosion crept closer to her best friend. It seemed as if time had been slowed down when the fire rose up next to Jessie. Tifa screamed, reaching out to Jessie and her legs started to move on their own, she ran towards the storages, tears stinging in her eyes. She was almost there.

"JESSIE!"

Suddenly a strong arm grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back when Tifa saw the last bomb going off right in front of her and Jessie's body disappeared into the heat of the explosion. Her eyes widened and a piercing scream escaped her lips. The flames almost reached her body, she coughed when smoke filled her lungs. She struggled against the person pulling her back behind her, she knew she could heard her name and she also knew who was calling her.

"Tifa! Stop it!"

"NO!" Tifa yelled while the tears were spilling out of her eyes and she glanced at the bomb in her left hand.

In the next second she threw her elbow back against the person behind her and rushed forward. With one last click she set the timer to the bomb to 3 seconds.

"Tifa NO!"

In the remaining 2 seconds she hurled the bomb towards the last storage and a strong and hot current threw her into the air as the explosion destroyed the remaining container. An intense pain shot through her whole body when she got smacked against the wall and then everything was gone.

* * *

><p>Cloud screamed Tifa's name in despair before they both got thrown back because of the explosion. Cloud let out a short cry when his body painfully hit the ground. He used his feet to stop himself from rolling further back and winced as he reached out for his sword that had gotten flung out off the straps on his back. He placed the sword's tip down on the ground and leaned on it to help him get back up. He was breathing heavily because of the rush of adrenaline and immediately started to look around for Tifa, but the smoke was clouding his view and he cursed when he could see dozens of guards and robots coming his way.<p>

"Tifa!"

Cloud immediately moved his feet when he finally spotted Tifa. His eyes grew wide when he didn't see her move and he rushed out to her body. Her hair was sprawled across the ground and blood was seeping out of a wound on her head. Cloud fell down to his knees and placed his sword next to him.

"Tifa!"

No matter how furious and disappointed he had been when he had seen her fighting against the Shinra guards, he was now worried beyond words. He carefully brushed the strands of hair out of her eyes and cupped her face with his hands, he slowly pushed her cheek up. He swallowed when he saw how pale she was and how the blood just kept streaming down. Cloud let out a frustrated hiss and clenched his fists. How could she have been so stupid? How could she betray him like that? She should have known going against Shinra was bound to fail.

"Dammit!"

In the next second Cloud let out a gasp en then yelled out in pain when he felt the rush of electricity moving through his whole body. He could feel the device pushing against his back and tried to get away from it by falling to Tifa's side. He couldn't stop trembling, but managed to look up. His eyes grew wide in shock.

"Mr President... No... I had nothing to do with this!"

The President of Shinra towered dangerously over Cloud's body as several SOLDIERS gathered around him. Cloud swallowed away a lump in his throat when the President shook his head.

"Take them away." the President ordered and without another word turned his back to Cloud and left.

"No! Mr President!" Cloud yelled in a last attempt to get his attention, but to no avail.

Cloud knew the guards would be coming for him and with all his strength he got back on his feet, stretching out his arms to keep them on a distance.

"What are you doing?! I am a 1st class SOLDIER!"

But his words meant nothing to them. Cloud yelled when he felt another shock of electricity rush through his veins and he collapsed on the ground, the device still firmly pressed against his back. Cloud began to shake from the pain. He tried to keep it together and crawled to the edge of the platform, but he realized he was slowly slipping away. Then Cloud saw the chaos going on down on the plate and his eyes widened when he saw Zack down in Sector 5 running away with Aerith in his arms, followed by Barret.

"Zack..."

But Cloud had no time left to think about his best friend. He slipped into unconsciousness.

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><p>Hope you liked it! Please review!<p>

**Next chapter: Traitors**


	7. Chapter 7: Traitors

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is property of Square Enix.**

Hello again! Thank you so much for the reviews and the follows! And thank you anya112 for the favorite! I really appreciate it and I hope you will like the next chapter!

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 7<span>: Traitors**

"Wha-?!"

Upon hearing the massive explosion in the distance, Zack jumped and snapped his eyes to Reactor 5. The muscles in his whole body tensed when he saw the fire and smoke rising high above the rooftops. For a few seconds he just stood there, frozen to the ground, gazing at the destruction that had come out of nowhere.

_...AVALANCHE... Damn!_

When he was finally able to tear his gaze away from the fire, he reached for his phone in his pocket, immediately dialling Cloud's number. Zack knew his best friend had been summoned to Headquarters, but he didn't know for what. Maybe he was near the reactor, Zack had to check if he was alright. He put the phone to his ear and heard the beeping noise, he frowned when it kept beeping. There was no answer and Cloud _always _picked up his phone.

"C'mon Cloud!" Zack mumbled in frustration and when he heard Cloud's voice mail, he let out a sigh as he stared at his phone.

All kinds of thoughts were going through his head and none of them were particularly good. Zack started to run towards the Headquarters, while dialling Cloud's number a second time and again there was no answer. Zack swallowed a lump away in his throat and really began to worry so he sped up, running past confused and scared citizens staring at the destroyed mako reactor in the distance. As he approached the centre of Sector 5, he dialled Aerith's number. Zack knew Aerith's house wasn't close to the reactor, but he still wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Zack!"

Zack immediately knew something was wrong by the way she had shouted his name.

"Aerith! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm at Sector 5, but something's going on at Shinra's Headquarters! They're fighting..." Aerith said and Zack could hear the chaos going on in the background. People screaming and running around. Then he could hear a familiar high pitched voice.

"Wait? Is that Marlene?" Zack asked and quickly turned into another street, still running.

"Yes, Marlene's with me. Tifa asked me to watch ove-"

The conversation was cut off by Aerith's scream and Zack gasped and abruptly stopped and flung his arms over his head when he saw an explosion near the mako storages. He didn't allow himself to gape at the fire and quickly put the phone back to his ear and started to sprint towards the explosions.

"Aerith!" he yelled into the phone, but he couldn't hear anything else but screams and footsteps. Her phone must have fallen on the ground after the explosion.

"Dammit!" Zack hissed before putting his phone away.

He swiftly made his way through the mass of people running away from the explosion when another one made Zack look up in horror. There were pieces of the containers falling down on the citizens and mako was flowing away freely. He could feel his hands shake from the shock and tried to control his body.

"AERITH!" he yelled and anxiously looked around, while he had to cough because of the smoke surrounding the area. "AERITH!"

Just when Zack caught a glimpse of a pink dress, he saw a familiar broad man falling off the Sector 0 plate.

"Zack!"

Zack jerked his head towards Aerith's voice and saw her running towards him with Marlene close next to her. He bumped into a few people who weren't paying attention and widened his eyes when a third explosion rose up high in the sky.

"Aerith watch out!" Zack yelled when he saw debris falling down from the containers.

Aerith looked behind her, but then her body got smacked to the ground when another man crashed into her, Marlene shouted her name and urged her to get back up. Zack quickly realized Aerith had difficulties getting up and he knew another explosion would follow very soon. He had to get to them in time because the pieces of the containers were already falling down dangerously close to Aerith and Marlene.

Then it happened. Zack gasped in shock when the last explosion was a lot closer than he had expected and he quickly grabbed the Buster Sword from his back and rushed to the debris falling towards Aerith and Marlene. He let out a loud yell when he leaped into the air and cut down all of the pieces threatening to crush them. He then quickly ran towards Aerith who was struggling to get back on her feet.

"Marlene, we have to run! Let's go!" Zack shouted when he scooped up Aerith in his arms and started to run away from the mako and the fire behind him.

"Daddy!" Marlene suddenly yelled and ran back towards the fire.

"Marlene!" Zack yelled in despair and then realized why the little girl was running back to the danger.

Zack growled when he quickly made his way to Barret who had fallen off the plate and had landed between the destroyed pieces of the containers on the ground.

"Daddy! You're hurt!" Marlene exclaimed while she was climbing onto the pieces of the containers.

"Marlene! No ya gotta go!" Barret shouted back in despair as he tried to get up, but Zack could see his foot was stuck.

"I'm not going without you!" the little girl yelled and started to cry when she couldn't get her father to get up.

"Zack, please help him!" Aerith said, and already gestured to him to put her down.

"...I..."

Zack gritted his teeth when he looked how desperate Marlene was to free her father. But is wasn't that easy, he knew that if he would help Barret, he would become a traitor to Shinra and he would be hunted down for the rest of his life.

_But...I can't leave him... I just can't._

Zack softly put Aerith down and made his way to Barret who was still trying to lift up the heavy piece of metal. Zack could see the shock written on Barret's face when he firmly grabbed the metallic piece and started to pull it away. With a loud groan, Zack was able to lift the debris up enough for Barret to slide his foot away from it. Marlene happily jumped into her father's arms and Barret stared at Zack, unable to believe what Zack had just done for him.

"C'mon, we need to go NOW!" Zack exclaimed and ran back to Aerith, who nodded at him, a smile hidden on her lips.

He supported her while she was running on her own feet again and yelled at Barret to follow him. Zack's brain was going in overdrive while he was making his way through Sector 5. They had to get out of Midgar without being caught by Shinra an they had to do it fast too. Now they could take advantage of the chaos and confusion and escape without getting into too much trouble. Zack glanced behind him and saw Barret limping after them with Marlene in his arms, Zack was glad that despite his injury he was able to keep up.

"Zack look!" Aerith suddenly shouted and pointed at a large jeep parked next to the street.

The doors were open and Zack couldn't believe anyone would leave a vehicle like that behind in a chaos like this. It was as if it was inviting them to go and steal it. Zack decided not to think about it and helped Aerith into the front seat. He quickly checked if the keys were in the ignition, but cursed when he couldn't find them immediately. When he looked down he could see them laying on the ground and he grinned when he grabbed them.

"Get in! We need to hurry!" Zack shouted at Barret who had some trouble fitting in the narrow space behind in the jeep, but he managed to get in and kept Marlene close to him.

Zack quickly shut the doors and got in, he started the engine and with screeching tires they took off and drove towards the highway. It broke Zack's heart to flee Midgar without knowing if Cloud was alright or where Tifa was, but they had no time to think about that now. That had to get through security first and then he could ask Barret what the hell was going on.

* * *

><p>The first thing he could feel when he started to wake up, was the cold concrete floor he was laying on. Cloud winced when he moved his left arm, his whole body felt so sore and his head was throbbing. He groaned when he forced himself to lay on his back and inhaled deeply. While he exhaled, he tried to open his eyes, but he looked right into a bright blue lamp hanging from the ceiling. He turned his head away from the strong light and blinked a few times to get rid of his blurry sight.<p>

"Ugh..."

He grimaced when he sat up and took in his surroundings.

"Oh...great." he spat, sighing.

He got on his feet and placed a hand against the cold steel wall next to him to keep him from falling back down. "This is just fantastic." he muttered and clenched his fists.

He was standing in a Shinra cell, a small cubical room made out of steel. The fourth wall seemed to be made out of glass, but Cloud knew better than to touch it, it had a very strong electric current running through it. There was no getting out of these cells, Cloud knew it. When he sighed again, he began to rub the skin around his eyes. The memories slowly drifted back into his mind and he let out a frustrated growl before he slid down the wall behind him and sat down, stretching out one leg and leaning his arm on the other knee. His head hung low, he felt horrible and furious at the same time.

In his anger he smacked a fist to the metallic floor and gritted his teeth. He had been arrested by his own company, by his own _President. _It felt all the worse to him because he had been trying to prevent the bombings, to fight off AVALANCHE. Images of the chaos during the bombing flooded his mind. The reactor exploding, the storages blowing up one by one, Tifa running towards the explosions.

"Tifa..." he whispered and shook his head in disappointment.

She had betrayed him, she had lied to him in his face and he had believed her. How could she have done this to him? His thoughts went back to their last fight and he felt even more angry.

_How could she have been so stupid?_

But no matter how angry he was with her, he couldn't stand the last image of her body burned into his mind. Cloud started to panic.

_Where is she? What did they do to her?_

Then suddenly he heard a groan behind him. In an instant he had turned around and crouched down in front of the steel wall. There were several small holes and he peered through and widened his eyes.

"Tifa!" he exclaimed, his other hand clung to the small opening in the wall as if he wanted to break it open. He was furious, but he needed to know if she was okay.

She didn't move, he could only hear her groan. Her black hair was sprawled across the floor and she was laying with her back turned to him. "Tifa!" he repeated.

Slowly she started to move and eventually sat up. She was completely lost and he called out to her again. With her eyes barely open, she looked to her right and winced. Carefully she touched the bruise on her forehead, which luckily had stopped bleeding, and rubbed away the blood stained on her cheek.

"...Cloud?" she carefully whispered.

She looked awful. Her hair was in a complete mess and she had cuts and bruises everywhere. It was a miracle she hadn't lost any limbs in that explosion.

"Yeah." he replied and then she started to look around.

"Where am I?"

Cloud couldn't help but to snort. "In a Shinra cell."

"No..." she muttered and leaned against the wall where Cloud was looking through the holes, he could tell she was screaming inwardly because of the trembling of her body.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Cloud didn't hold back his nasty comment, he was still very angry with her.

Tifa snapped her eyes to the small holes next to her head. She didn't reply and only turned her head away from him.

"Are you happy now? Your wonderful plan worked out so perfectly!" he spat, the irony in his voice almost overflowing.

"And why the hell are you here huh?" Tifa suddenly had faced him and she was dangerously glaring at him. "Guess Shinra doesn't trust you anymore...So much for your great company!"

"Hn, I wouldn't get cocky now, after all _you_ are the terrorist locked up in a Shinra cell!"

"What? Who are you to talk! You're the _SOLDIER _locked up in Shinra cell! I'd say that's even worse!"

Tifa jerked her head away from him and huffed, folding her arms and sliding further down the wall. Cloud furrowed his brow and didn't say anything. He knew anything that would come out of his mouth would only upset them both more. The situation was already bad enough as it was.

Then Tifa stood up and Cloud peered through the holes, she was walking towards the glass, reaching out to it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." he quickly said, but she just ignored him.

"Tifa!"

As soon as she touched the glass, she screamed out as a massive electric current rushed through her body. She pulled away immediately and fell to the ground, clutching her hand and trembling. She was gasping for air.

"You idiot! I told you not to touch it!" Cloud yelled angrily even though the worry was noticeable in his voice.

"Dammit." Tifa hissed, still clutching her right arm, shaking.

She leaned her back against the wall and Cloud could hear her sighing. He turned around to sit down against the same wall, but on the other side, and he sighed. How had it all come to this? How could she have been so stupid to join AVALANCHE? And why was he arrested? He had been trying to prevent all this from happening and a cell was his reward?

Then his thoughts drifted off to Zack and Aerith. He had seen them running away right after the explosions with Barret. Saving a terrorist. Zack had to flee the city, Shinra would consider him a traitor for that.

After a while of silence, Cloud heard Tifa speak.

"Why did you try to stop me Cloud?" she mumbled, he could barely make out the words. "Don't you see what Shinra is doing? Are you still convinced they're doing the right thing?"

Cloud didn't react immediately, he took her words into his mind and shook his head.

"Who fucking knows what the right thing is? Shinra is only providing comfortable lives for everyone! If you ask me your little rebel group is as bad as Shinra!"

"You don't know what you're saying!"

"I know damn right what I'm talking about!"

"You're wrong." Tifa whispered, as if she was scared to say it out loud.

"Yeah, just keep tellin' yourself that." he said.

Tifa didn't react, Cloud didn't speak either. They were both on edge, they were both angry and sad, anything they would say now, would only be to anger and hurt the each other even more. Cloud sighed when he could hear Tifa softly sobbing. He guessed the weight of the chaos was crashing down on her now, as it was for himself. He was sure he had seen Zack and Aerith together with Barret before he passed out, but what had happened to Aerith and why was Zack saving Barret? Why would he take that risk?

Cloud shook his head and frowned, if Zack really helped Barret escape, Shinra would never forgive him.

* * *

><p>Tifa woke up with a start when she suddenly heard a loud voice. In her confusion she wasn't sure what was happening, but when she heard the voice again, she intuitively snapped her eyes to the glass wall. She frowned when she couldn't see anyone on the other side, so she lowered her head to look through the small holes in the wall, into Cloud's cell.<p>

"Well, what do you know! 1st class SOLDIER Cloud Strife!" the same strange voice spoke and Tifa tried to see who it was, but Cloud's back was blocking her view and she could only see him up to his upper legs.

"Haha never thought, I'd be bringing you food!"

She could hear Cloud snort and the next thing she knew, the other man screamed out in pain, she gasped and backed away from the wall when she could see red and blue sparks flying through the cell. Then she heard a door opening and she jumped away with a short yell when a body was thrown into the cell. She continued to stare at the body with widened eyes and then she finally realized Cloud had gotten out of his cell.

"Cloud?" she whispered, she didn't dare to speak out loud. Maybe the other guy was still alive, though she doubted it.

Then she heard footsteps to her right and she looked up and she saw Cloud on the other side of her cell walking towards the wall where his sword was leaning against. She couldn't contain the smile on her face and got on her feet, walking towards the glass wall, nearly touching it in her excitement, but she pulled away just in time.

"Cloud! You got out!"

Cloud didn't seem to react to her voice, so she called his name again. He looked up and walked towards her cell.

"Can you get me out?" Tifa asked and stared at Cloud, waiting for an answer, though she found it quite obvious for him to help her. He wouldn't leave her here alone.

Cloud then placed his sword in the straps on his back and started to walk away. Tifa's smile immediately disappeared from her lips and a sudden feeling of shock rushed through her body. He couldn't walk away, he had to free her!

"Wait Cloud!"

Again she nearly touched the wall in front of her when she wanted to reach out to him. He stopped and looked at her for a moment.

"I'm going to have a word with the President." Cloud simply said and then he disappeared from her view.

"No! Don't go! Don't leave me here! Cloud!" she desperately yelled and then the realization of what happened brought her down to her knees, her arms hanging loosely beside her body. She couldn't believe it.

"No..."

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><p>Thank you for reading and don't forget to leave a review!<p>

**Next up: badass Cloud in the Shinra building**


	8. Chapter 8: Escaping Midgar part 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Final Fantasy VII

Sorry for the late update, but I have been struggling with my grandmother's death and my studies. I hope you guys will appreciate this rather short chapter, but I really wanted to update so I split it up in two chapters.

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 8:<span> Escaping Midgar Part 1**

He was lazily leaning back in his big chair as he gazed outside the large window, still slightly glaring at the destruction AVALANCHE had brought to his mako reactor. He had been furious to hear about the bombings. It wasn't really the damage to the reactor and storages that had angered him, it was the shame he had to deal with now. Losing to a stupid little rebel group like AVALANCHE. He had always said he would never let them win, but here he was, looking at their success.

"President! The prisoners have been brought to the cells. What is your next order?"

President Shinra turned his chair around and looked at the nervous Shinra employee in front of his desk. He clasped his hands and put his elbows on his desk, a smug smile appeared on his face.

"I want them executed." he said and didn't hesitate one second.

He wanted them dead. He needed to show the people Shinra was still in charge, that _he _was still in charge.

"I would like to advise against that President."

President Shinra snapped his eyes to the stairs to his right and let out an annoyed sigh when he saw Sephiroth climbing the stairs. He wasn't in the mood to listen to him, but this was Sephiroth and Shinra owed the legendary SOLDIER a lot. Even though President Shinra knew Sephiroth was of irreplaceable value to the company, he hated how the SOLDIER would order him around. President Shinra shifted his weight on his chair and looked up to Sephiroth.

"And why is that?"

"You'll need them to find the rest of the group." Sephiroth began and when he walked up to the President's desk, the Shinra employee instantly saluted him. "Besides. Strife is a 1st class SOLDIER."

"That's why I want him dead. I can't have the other SOLDIERS getting any stupid ideas."

Sephiroth chuckled shortly and nodded. "Yes I agree, but I think keeping him alive will benefit us more."

President Shinra stood up and started to walk around in circles, keeping his hands folded behind his back. If he kept them alive, he could find that Barret guy he wanted dead for so long. Just thinking about the AVALANCHE leader dying by his hands made his body itch in excitement

"...Mmm. Yes maybe you're right." he said and then stuck out his chubby arm, pointing at the Shinra employee. "You! Go get Tseng!" he shouted, startling the man who quickly nodded and ran out of the office.

President Shinra made his way back to his desk and sat down.

"You made a wise decision Mr. President." Sephiroth said and when he wanted to walk away, President Shinra stopped him. "I hope you're not doing this for Strife."

Sephiroth frowned slightly and then let out a chuckle.

"Why would I do that? He's a traitor."

"You've always been interested in that kid." President explained and Sephiroth didn't reply for a moment.

"Of course, he is a fine 1st class SOLDIER." Sephiroth quickly and shortly answered and then walked away without another word, passing Tseng who was jogging up the stairs.

President Shinra stood up when he spotted Tseng.

"Ah Tseng!" he exclaimed and Tseng placed himself in front of the desk and nodded firmly.

"What can I do for you Mr. President?"

"I want you to find the rest of this pathetic group AVALANCHE. Do whatever you must, just find them and bring them to me!" President Shinra shouted and slammed his fist on his desk. "They will pay!"

"And what about the two prisoners?" Tseng asked and didn't react to the President's sudden outburst, keeping up his professional posture.

"Interrogate them, start with the girl."

Tseng shortly nodded and left the room.

* * *

><p>After he carefully placed the unconscious body of the guard on the floor, Cloud quickly made his way over to the stairs. He couldn't believe Shinra's security was this bad. Out of habit he made a mental note to report this to the President, but then he realized he was going against Shinra and the worse the security was, the better for him. Before walking to the main entrance of the building, Cloud took his sword from his back and held it firmly into his right hand as he came into sight of the employees. He couldn't help but to snort when he saw the confused and shocked looks on their faces. It took a while before they started to realize they had to take action against him.<p>

"Seize him!"

Cloud easily dodged the bullets coming his way with his sword and took the guards out with a few punches and kicks. He didn't want to waste his time trying to prevent the woman from the reception to sound the alarm, he knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Cloud quickly ran upstairs and took a deep breath when he stepped into the elevator. He eyed the display with the floor number on it and then thought about the key card he would need to get to the upper floors. It wouldn't be so hard to steal one or to demand a key card from one of the employees. They were all afraid of SOLDIERS anyway.

Cloud pushed the number 59 and kept his sword ready in case the elevator would come to a stop. The elevator had just passed floor 26 when a loud alarm sounded and the red lights started to flash. Cloud growled, he was annoyed he hadn't gotten further up. He didn't have time to think about it when the elevator doors opened and several Shinra guards fired at him. He dashed out of the small room and knocked the guards over. Quickly and swiftly he took care of the robots and then he picked up a handgun and a key card from an unconscious guard. Cloud loaded the gun and immediately aimed it at the other guards moving towards him.

"Stay back and I won't have to hurt you!" Cloud shouted while he stepped back and pushed the button to open the elevator doors.

He kept his eyes fixed on the frightened guards and snorted. He couldn't believe how easily they got scared of him. Of course they all knew he was quite the successful 1st class SOLDIER, but this was just pathetic.

* * *

><p>She still couldn't believe he had left her behind. She knew he was angry with her, but she never thought he would do something like this. It almost felt like the Cloud she had known all this time, had just been a complete lie.<p>

Tifa let out a yell of frustration and then brought her hands to her face. She could feel the tears welling up and her body began to tremble. A sudden feeling of complete loneliness washed over her as the tears started to fall down. She didn't make a noise, only the tears rolled down her cheeks and tickled the skin on her hands.

_Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Barret,..._

Tifa burst out in sobs and didn't hold back. She had nothing left to lose, everything and everyone she ever cared for was gone and it was all her fault. She was all alone and she only had herself to blame. If only she hadn't been so selfish and so caught up in her own desire for revenge. If only she had kept out of all this. If only she had listened to Cloud.

"No..." she muttered.

Cloud wasn't right either. He never should have trusted Shinra, but how could she blame him? She once admired the company and wanted Sephiroth's autograph. She was exactly like all the rest, she had no right to judge Cloud.

_But how could he be so blind?_

Tifa gasped when suddenly a loud alarm sounded and the room started to flash in red lights. She immediately got back on her feet and rubbed the wetness from her cheeks, peering through the glass wall in front of her to see if anyone was coming, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Did he..?" she muttered to herself, thinking about Cloud.

Would he actually get to the President? Maybe he could do it, he was a 1st class SOLDIER after all.

Suddenly Tifa heard footsteps coming closer to her cell and she swallowed, not really sure what to expect, but she clenched her fists to be prepared. Two armed Shinra guards appeared in front of her cell. They opened the glass wall to her cell and Tifa took a step back when they dangerously approached her, aiming their guns at her.

"Come with us!" one of them shouted, but Tifa didn't move from her spot.

She knew why they were here, they would take her for interrogation and Tifa would have to spill out everything about AVALANCHE and then they would kill her. She clenched her fists. There was no way she was going with them.

* * *

><p>Cloud didn't waste any time when he got out at floor 61. He immediately threatened the Shinra employees and demanded a key card for the remaining floors. It was quite easy to pick out his victim since the guy nearly fainted from fear when Cloud threatened to shove his sword down his throat.<p>

A ping sounded behind him and Cloud growled as several guards started to fire at him. He quickly turned around, easily dodging the bullets, but then widened his eyes when he saw the familiar green glow of a magic user. He barely had the time to jump out of the way when the gigantic flames appeared out of nowhere next to him.

"Close one..." he swallowed, but he regained his posture.

Cloud rushed forward, not giving the guards the time to cast another spell on him. He wanted this done quickly. He charged at the three guards at once and yelled out when he struck them with his sword. They collapsed immediately and Cloud ran to the elevators further up. He quickly scanned the key card and got into the small glass room where he pushed the number 68.

He took a deep breath when he placed his sword on his back and reached for the gun he had attached to his belt. Even though he hoped he'd get to floor 68 in one go, he knew it was highly unlikely. Security would only get stronger from this point on.

When the elevator stopped at floor 66, Cloud swallowed hard and kept his gun aimed at whoever would be behind the doors. He gritted his teeth and prepared himself for the worst, but was slightly surprised when he saw a familiar head of wild red hair.

"Reno..." Cloud said and couldn't contain a snort when he saw how both of them were standing.

The redhead had a gun aimed at Cloud's face, exactly how Cloud was aiming his own gun at Reno. He shot Cloud a smug smile.

"Well, I gotta say. I never thought _you_ would do something as stupid as helping AVALANCHE." Reno said and chuckled. "Too bad though, I thought you were pretty cool."

Cloud didn't react to Reno's babbling and squinted his eyes as he carefully kept aiming at his head. The Turk was holding the elevator by pushing the control button next to him in the wall. Reno let out a short sigh and shrugged.

"You were never really the talker." he said. "But I have my orders. No offence though."

"Thanks I guess." Cloud said, but he didn't allow himself to get distracted by Reno's weirdness. He had to get him away from that button to close the doors to the elevator. "But I'm still going to have a word with the President."

Reno laughed and even almost took his hand off the button.

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen." Reno said and Cloud saw how he tightened the grip on the gun.

Cloud didn't answer right away, he was scanning the area around Reno for something that could prevent a fight between them. Cloud would lose too much time fighting Reno and he knew the Turk was a skilled fighter. He just needed something to distract Reno. When he spotted a bright blue lamp above Reno Cloud smirked.

"That's too bad." Cloud answered and quickly brought his gun up and shot the lamp above Reno, making the Turk step back in surprise when the hallway went dark and sparks were flying around.

Cloud immediately pushed the 68 button and shielded his face with his arms when a few bullets slipped through the closing doors and shattered the glass around him. He fell against the wall behind him and felt the adrenaline kick in when he saw he had arrived at floor 68. He had to act fast now, or Reno and the other Turks would get to him and it would get very messy.

Cloud shot out of the door and rushed past confused and scared scientists. He quickly made his way over to the main laboratory of the headquarters and held up his gun when he grabbed a man sitting by the computers by his coat.

"If you don't deactivate the security device I'll kill you." Cloud said loud and clear and the older man started to shake in fear when he saw the gun.

"I-I don't know how." the man stuttered and Cloud angrily pressed the barrel of the gun against the man's neck. "Yes you do and you have one minute."

Cloud could hear the other employees scream and run around in the background. He knew back up would arrive soon, so he absolutely needed this man to deactivate the security device to floor 69.

"Now!" Cloud hissed and with trembling fingers the man started to type orders to the computers.

As Cloud watched, he felt a drop of sweat rolling down his neck and he had to contain his nerves when he watched the seconds pass by. Reno and the rest could arrive any moment now.

"Faster!" Cloud yelled in frustration and the man nodded as he pushed a last button which deactivated the secured doors up ahead and Cloud quickly snatched away the man's key card hanging from his coat before running through the doors and up the stairs to floor 69.

He quickly opened the door leading to the last stairs with the key card and once again took hold of his sword in his right hand when he started to run up the stairs to the President's office. He let out a loud yell when he swung his sword to the right, clashing it with the guns of the guards and sending them backwards to the floor. Without a second of hesitation Cloud held up his gun and aimed at the president sitting in his chair before he could react to the situation, he loaded the gun and glanced back and forth between the President and the guards as he approached the desk.

"I should have known you would escape." President Shinra muttered, followed by a sigh.

Cloud felt the anger rise up inside his body when he noticed the President was not at all concerned for his safety. Maybe he didn't believe Cloud could actually really kill him on the spot.

"Why the hell was I arrested?" Cloud asked, trying not to raise his voice too much. He didn't want to sound emotional, he had to seem he had everything under control, even though Cloud knew he could probably be killed at any moment now.

Cloud gritted his teeth when he heard the President chuckle.

"I assumed it was quite obvious."

"I had nothing to do with the bombings. I was trying to _prevent _it from happening!" Cloud hissed and took a step forward, glaring at the President and making sure he would see the gun pointed at his big fat face.

"Right, that's why you protected your little rebel girlfriend. Because you wanted to prevent it."

Cloud widened his eyes and suddenly felt the need to pull the trigger and blast that man's head off his shoulders. He knew he had started to shake slightly because of his anger and he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I have been nothing but loyal to you. Why are you doing this?" Cloud demanded to know.

"I don't like traitors, Strife. And you happen to be one of them." President Shinra answered and Cloud glanced to the side when he saw the President looking away.

The Turks and several other guards had entered the office, but Cloud didn't move from his spot and instead moved the gun closer to the President's head.

"Don't move or he's dead." Cloud said loud and clear and kept his gaze fixed on the President.

"You know you can't get out..." the President said and Cloud didn't react. He knew he could get out if he really wanted to, he had gotten in as well. "And even so, would you let us torture your pretty little girlfriend?"

Cloud felt the grip on his gun tighten in seconds when he saw the smirk on the President's face. The thought about Tifa getting tortured invaded his mind, he tried to shake it off, but it was in vain. He panicked more with each second he thought about Tifa getting tortured to get information out of her. She wouldn't give in, she was stubborn like that, he knew it.

"So you might as well cooperate." the President added and this made Cloud snap his eyes back to him.

Cloud quickly took a glance at the Turks and guards around him and started to walk to the left, to the stairs. He had to get back to Tifa. The President could have a big mouth, but he wasn't joking about torturing her.

He kept his gun carefully aimed at the President. They had to let him go, they knew the aim of a 1st class SOLDIER was perfect and Cloud _would_ shoot the President.

"Let me pass." Cloud ordered and heard Reno and Tseng cursing when they stepped aside, glaring at him.

When Cloud started to walk down the stairs, he took a few steps back and then turned around and sprinted towards the lower floor and to the open doors. He could feel the bullets raining down next to him and he grimaced when his arm got grazed, but paid no attention to the pain. The adrenaline was rushing through his body when he passed the security doors and slammed his fist on the button to reactivate the security device. He saw the doors slowly sliding to a close and almost panicked when he could still see Reno running towards him, but relief washed over him when the last door shut the Turks out.

The scientists and employees in the room didn't even try to stop him this time and just hid in a corner when Cloud stepped inside the elevator and pushed to go down. He had to get to Tifa fast and he needed to figure out how to get out of Midgar.

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading and please leave a review! It would really brighten my day!<p>

**Next up: Escaping Midgar part 2**


	9. Chapter 9: Escaping Midgar part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII**

Here's part two of the great escape.

Hope you like it! And don't forget to review!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 9:<strong>** Escaping Midgar Part 2**

"You're coming with us!" one of the two guards shouted angrily at Tifa and she took another step back while still keeping her gaze fixed on their movements.

They both held up their gun, aimed at her and even though she knew they probably wouldn't kill her, she wasn't going to be foolish and rush this. This was probably her only chance to get out of her there and she couldn't make any mistakes now.

"Move it!" the shorter guard hissed at her and dangerously moved his gun towards her chest.

Tifa stepped back again and when she felt coldness of the wall hit her back, she knew she had to fight back. There was nowhere to run to anymore. Tifa's eyes shot to the shorter guard when he wanted to reach out for Tifa's shoulder with his left hand. That's when she took her chance. In the blink of an eye she had taken hold of the guard's outstretched arm with her left hand and smashed her right fist into his chest, making him fall back against the wall.

"What the-!" she heard the other guard yell.

Tifa quickly moved her body away to avoid getting shot by the other guard and with a high kick she disarmed him, making him step back in shock. With another fierce kick she knocked him over and slammed him against the wall. She jumped after him, grabbing him by the collar and was about to finish it when she felt a cold object press against her back. Her whole body tensed when she realized it was a gun and that she had nowhere to go.

"Get up you little bitch!" a deep voice angrily growled at her and she slowly and carefully started to get up.

"You're gonna pay for this!" the guard behind her hissed and he put more pressure on the gun pressed against her back.

She winced for a moment when the barrel painfully pressed onto her spine. When she got up, she slowly put her hands up in the air and saw the other guard was trying to get back on his feet. He reached for his gun and groaned when he finally got up.

"Move!"

Tifa didn't have a choice but to walk out of the cell. All kinds of thoughts were racing through her mind and she swallowed hard when she couldn't immediately think of a way to escape. She began to curse mentally, asking herself why she didn't take out the first guard before attacking the other one.

"You're gonna scream for mercy when we're done with you." the taller guard suddenly said and both of them started to laugh. Their voices made her shiver in disgust, but Tifa just tried to keep a straight face. She wasn't going to let them have the pleasure of seeing fear in her eyes.

Just when they were about to walk through the hallway, a gun was fired at the back of the poorly lit hallway and Tifa gasped when she felt the bullet rush past her left arm. She immediately turned around and stepped back with widened eyes when the shorter guard fell to the floor. His eyes were wide open and the blood seeping out of his chest quickly formed a crimson, thick puddle next to his body.

"Marvin!" the other guard yelled out in panic and he immediately aimed his gun at the approaching figure in the distance.

Before Tifa could think of attacking the guard, he had grabbed her by her arm and pressed the gun against the side of her head. She let out a short yelp when she felt the cold metal against her skin and she shivered.

"Who the hell is there?!" the guard yelled and Tifa heard him swallow. "I'll kill her!"

Before Tifa had the time to see who was walking towards them, another bullet was fired. Tifa gasped and closed her eyes shut, expecting the worst to happen, but when she felt the grip on her arm loosen she opened her eyes and saw the remaining guard dropping down to the floor. She gulped when she saw the bullet hole in his throat.

Unsure of what to do next, Tifa stepped away from the two bodies in a rush and when she looked to her right her eyes widened in surprise.

"Tifa."

She couldn't hide her smile when she felt Cloud's hand on her shoulder. Relief washed over her and she had to hold back the urge to tackle him with a hug.

"You came back!"

However, Cloud didn't smile at her and immediately grabbed her hand. He started to pull her along and Tifa jogged behind him in confusion. She eyed the gun attached to his belt and also noticed how sweaty his hand was.

"Cloud, what happened?" she asked, but he didn't answer. "Cloud? Hey!"

Then Tifa gasped in surprise when Cloud abruptly stopped and pulled her back with him into an empty cell. He glued them both to the wall and placed his hand on her mouth before she could make any noise of protest. His other hand held her firmly close to his body. Before Tifa could realize what was going on, she heard loud footsteps coming closer. Several guards rushed past them, failing to notice them in the empty cell.

Sweat started to roll down her neck while they waited for the guards to pass them. Tifa could barely breathe in the position she was in. She was so close against Cloud's chest that she could feel his breath on the back of her head. The heat rose up to her cheeks when she awkwardly became aware of how close they were. She cursed herself for thinking about such things in a situation like this, but luckily enough Cloud released his hold on her not long after.

"C'mon!" he hissed quietly and immediately started to run through the hallway.

Tifa was still recovering from the sudden closeness to him, but she managed to shake it off and followed closely after him.

"In here!"

Cloud opened a door to what seemed like a technical support room. There were several monitors showing the images of security cameras and other electronic devices were scattered all over the place. Tifa didn't understand why Cloud had brought them here, there was no way out of here, it was a dead end.

"What now?" she asked confused, still looking around the room, looking for something she could have missed.

Cloud didn't answer immediately, he was frantically looking through several maps on one of the computers.

"Cloud?"

He turned around, not even looking at her and began to search through the desk on the other side of the room. Tifa was getting annoyed and put her hands on her hips.

"Cloud!"

"Keep it down!" he hissed at her and then mumbled something to himself she could barely understand.

"What are you looking for?" she asked and he shook his head. "A key card, but it's not here...dammit!"

Tifa frowned when he cursed out loud and then he started to look around the room. He suddenly walked to the corner of the room and looked up. Tifa followed his gaze and saw an air duct. Tifa noticed it was big enough to fit a person inside and she immediately knew what he was planning to do.

"What? You want to crawl through there?"

A smile tugged at Cloud's lips and Tifa raised an eyebrow when she saw the joy in his eyes.

"Not me, you."

"What?"

Tifa shook her head and folded her arms, but Cloud didn't give her the time to protest.

"Look, we don't have much time. You'll just have to trust me for now."

"But what do you want me to do in there? And what about you?"

"We need to get out of Midgar and there's a storage area for Shinra's vehicles a bit further. This air duct leads there. You can crawl to the other side and open the door from the inside."

Tifa frowned and just when she was about to ask questions, Cloud continued the explanation of his plan.

"I don't have a key card and it's impossible to open the door without it. I can take care of the security down there and then you can let me in." Cloud paused for a moment and Tifa nodded to urge him to continue. "So we should be able to have a clear path for at least a little while."

Tifa still didn't feel too confident about his plan, but decided to go with it. They didn't really have a choice anyway.

"We don't have time to lose. We'll meet in 10 minutes."

"What if you're not there?"

"I will."

"But just what _if _you're not there?"

"I'll _bé _there Tifa."

Tifa decided she just had to trust Cloud on this one. She supposed he knew what he was doing, he knew the place and he had come back for her before after all. Without a second thought, Tifa got on one of the tables and pulled away the grill with force. She almost lost her balance when it finally came loose, but managed to stay on her feet.

"10 minutes." Cloud repeated just before he ran out of the room and left Tifa yet again, alone.

Tifa let out a sigh before she hoisted herself up into the air duct. At first she struggled to fit her body into the narrow space, but eventually she found a way to position herself. She coughed when the dust around her flew up and she sighed. She was not going to enjoy this.

* * *

><p>Cloud quickly closed the door behind him and when he turned around the corner to make his way to the stairs, he spotted several guards and low ranking SOLDIERS checking the cells. He was about to rush to them to quickly take them out when he heard other footsteps behind him.<p>

"There he is! Seize him!"

Cloud cursed out loud and reached for his sword. He had a hard time dodging the rain of bullets coming from both sides, so he waited until the left side had to reload their guns before he ran over to the right side. He held his sword firmly in front of his face to protect himself and then he struck the first few guards with great force. The impact made them fly back and smack against their comrades.

Cloud took advantage of their weakened position and spun around, holding his sword up above him and gathering the necessary energy for his next attack. He ignored the bullets grazing his skin and thrust his sword forward, sending out a massive beam that easily destroyed the rest of the guards.

With a smirk on his face, he ran through the body mass to the stairs and made his way to floor -2. When he opened the door to the hallway he stepped back in surprise when he suddenly came eye to eye with a gun.

"I knew you would come here."

"Elena..."

The blonde Turk was standing right in front of him with her gun nearly pressed against his forehead. Even though she was threatening him, the slightly confused and sad expression on her face made her seem quite harmless.

"My orders are to stop you..." she softly said and Cloud could have sworn he had heard disappointment in her voice.

He knew Elena well and actually really liked her. She was always friendly and even though she was a bit clumsy, she did her job very well. Cloud considered them friends rather than colleagues and hoped he could talk his way out of this one.

"I had nothing to do with the bombings, Elena. I swear."

He observed Elena's eyes and then she finally sighed and lowered the gun.

"I believe you."

Cloud wasn't really sure what to do next, so he just gazed at Elena, who put her gun away and fixed her dark blue suit and tucked her short hair behind her ear.

"I'll report to the rest that I haven't found you. That should buy you some time." Elena simply said and walked past Cloud, who was still analyzing what she had said.

He turned around to ask questions when Elena interrupted him. "Zack is missing. He's not in Midgar anymore."

"So they got away..." Cloud mumbled to himself and then Elena turned around with a fierce look in her eyes. "Just know that the next time we'll meet. We'll be forced to fight."

Cloud sighed and eventually nodded.

"I know." he muttered and watched Elena disappear behind the door.

* * *

><p>When Tifa finally reached the end of the air duct, she let out a sigh of relief. With both hands she pushed against the grill in front of her until it finally came loose. When she crawled a little further she could see into the enormous storage.<p>

"Woah..."

Dozens of motorbikes and cars were neatly parked around the room. Several vehicles were covered by a big cloth, but she could easily recognize the shape of the big trucks underneath. Tifa allowed herself a minute to admire the big collection of vehicles and then also noticed she was very high up. With some difficulty, she turned around in the narrow space and dropped herself down. Once she landed on her feet, she put the grill in her hands away and dusted herself off. When she started to walk through the enormous room she felt so small and vulnerable. She started to look for an entrance and then saw where she needed to go and quickly made her way to two big metallic doors on the right side of the room.

For a short moment she observed the construction at the left side of the doors and then she took hold of the heavy wheel. To her disappointment, she had some trouble moving the sturdy wheel, so she put all her weight into it and then it finally started to rotate.

"Come on!"

When she heard the loud noise of the doors slowly opening, she prayed Cloud was waiting on the other side and not a Shinra army.

To her great relief, Cloud quickly slipped through the doors and turned to her.

"Good job!"

"You're here!" Tifa exclaimed relieved and immediately turned the wheel back around to close the doors.

"Follow me!" Cloud said and Tifa jogged behind him when he swiftly manoeuvred between the motorbikes and cars. She was impressed he knew his way so easily around this place, Tifa had to concentrate to keep herself from bumping into everything.

When Cloud finally stopped, Tifa walked up beside him and gazed at the shiny motorbike in front of her. It was quite big for a bike, yet still sporty and elegant. Tifa watched how a wide smile appeared on Cloud's face and how his gloved hand slid over the saddle. After a while of admiring the Fenrir, Cloud grabbed the keys that were hanging from the steering-wheel and sat down on his bike. When he inserted the keys, Tifa jumped back in surprise when several components sprung open. Cloud casually placed the separate pieces of his sword into the bike and closed everything again.

"Well, get on." Cloud suddenly said, breaking Tifa's fascination with his bike.

She hesitantly placed herself behind him and immediately noticed the bike wasn't meant for two people when she uncomfortably sat down on the hard, cold metal. When she had found a good position, she grabbed the sides of the bike for support. After Cloud had put on his goggles, he started the engine. A loud roar echoed through the entire storage and Cloud slowly moved the bike to the other side. When Tifa saw a security system at the door, she panicked for a moment, but Cloud quickly reassured her.

"I know the code, don't worry." he said when he entered the 10 digits and the door in front of them slowly opened. Tifa squinted her eyes when the bright sunlight hit her face.

"Here we go!" Cloud shouted when he leaned forward, already toying with the engine. Tifa could practically feel he was grinning from ear to ear.

When the bike took off at high speed, Tifa let out a yelp when her hands slipped away and she nearly fell off the bike. She had barely been able to take hold of Cloud's body and when he accelerated even more, she started to cling to him out of fear of falling off. Tifa could feel her heartbeat drumming inside her throat. She had never gone this fast on any kind of vehicle before, but the thrill was amazing.

Cloud steered the bike away from the Headquarters and soon they were driving on the highway leading away from Midgar. Tifa loosened the grip on Cloud's shirt and tried to look behind them. Her hair was violently blowing around and she noticed her eyes were getting teary because of the strong wind.

When she turned her face forward, to get her hair out of her face, she gasped when she heard gunfire. In a reflex she clutched onto Cloud, who tried to steer the bike away from the bullets. Tifa calmed herself down and looked behind her. She swallowed when she saw several SOLDIERS chasing them by bike and they were getting closer and closer.

"We need to go faster!" Tifa yelled, hoping it was loud enough for Cloud to hear it.

When Cloud accelerated, Tifa clutched onto him to keep herself from sliding on the bike. The bullets kept coming their way and Tifa had to control the pain when several bullets grazed her skin and left deep, bloody marks.

"Are you okay?!" Cloud suddenly yelled, but before Tifa could answer, they both looked up to a helicopter above them. T

Tifa widened her eyes when she saw they were going to drop bombs down on them.

"Those are bombs!" she shouted and she could hear Cloud growl as he tried to steer away from the chopper.

When the bombs started to rain down on them, Cloud tried his best to avoid the blasts, but because of the manoeuvres they lost speed. Suddenly Cloud sat up straight and steered the bike with his weight only. He reached for the gun in his belt and fired a few times at the chopper until he hit one of the rotor blades. It wasn't long before the helicopter started to tumble down to the ground.

When Cloud grabbed the steering-wheel again, Tifa was startled when he pushed the gun in her hands.

"Keep them at a distance!" Cloud shouted and Tifa nodded.

She took the gun in her right hand and with her left arm she held onto Cloud while she looked behind them. After taking a deep breath, she dared to slip off the bike a little bit to be able to aim better. It was really hard to keep her aim steady with her arm swaying around because of the strong wind, but she was determined to take some of those SOLDIERS down.

She started to shoot at the first two and shortly smirked when she was able to hit the guy in the shoulder. When suddenly Cloud steered the bike roughly to the left, Tifa barely held on, but quickly repositioned herself and kept shooting at the other SOLDIER following closely behind them. Because she was so focused on that SOLDIER, she never saw the next bullet coming and she let out a short scream when the gun was shot out of her hand.

"No!"

She watched the gun disappear behind them and cursed out loud. Then she sat up straight again and wrapped her arm around Cloud when she noticed he was starting to push the bike to its limits. They were finally starting to gain some distance, but the bullets kept coming their way and Tifa could only hope they wouldn't shoot her in the back.

When they just passed the outer border of the city, Tifa noticed how high up they were driving. The wastelands stretched out in front of them and they were slowly but surely leaving Midgar behind them. Cloud tried to accelerate even more and Tifa pressed herself against his back to shield herself from the wind. She glanced back and saw the SOLDIERS were still chasing them, but they were getting too far behind to shoot at them.

"Hold on!" Cloud suddenly yelled and Tifa immediately looked in front of her and widened her eyes in shock when she saw the highway was coming to an abrupt end. Construction had not yet finished and they were now racing at high speed towards a nonexistent road and a very dangerous fall down.

"Cloud!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, but they had already rushed past the construction signs.

Her heart skipped a beat when the bike hovered in the air for a few seconds before it started to dive towards the ground beneath them. Tifa felt like screaming, but she couldn't produce any sound until they painfully hit the ground. She was quite sure, her nails had left nasty marks on Cloud's body when she loosened her hold on him. She let out a long breath before she looked up behind them and noticed the SOLDIERS weren't following them. She could see several of them standing at the edge of the highway and frowned. It wasn't like Shinra to let them go like that.

"They're not following us!" Tifa shouted and glanced back over his shoulder and slowed the Fenrir down until they came to a stop.

Both of them gazed at the huge city in front of them and Tifa realized she wouldn't be back any time soon. She had to leave her life in Midgar behind and settle with a new life, that of a refugee. And because of all that had happened in the last few hours, she wasn't too sure if she had done the right thing.

* * *

><p>So that's it, Tifa and Cloud left Midgar and the real adventure can begin!<p>

Please review this story, it would help me out greatly!

**Next chapter: **Zack and the rest are back! Tifa and Cloud run into trouble.


	10. Chapter 10: Hope And Despair

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Final Fantasy VII

** meeresstern1983:** I want to thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts. I really appreciate your opinion and because it has been asked before, I have been watching a walkthrough of Crisis Core on Youtube and I have decided to include Angeal and Genesis. I think it can definitely make the story more interesting and it does provide some more background.

But because the past is different in my story I will have to slightly change Crisis Core's story. For now I can only say that Angeal is dead since Zack has the Buster Sword.

Also thank you to all the awesome people who favorited/followed this story! You guys absolutely rock!

Sorry for the slow update, I had a lot of work to do for my studies. Here's chapter 10!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 10:<span> Hope And Despair**

"What do you mean you don't know?!"

Aerith felt the little girl beside her suddenly clutch onto her dress when Zack's angry, loud voice reached their ears. She put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder and sighed deeply.

They had pulled over on a dusty road on their way to Junon. After the bombings in Midgar, the confusion had made it possible for them to escape with little to no problems at all. Because of Zack's fear of Shinra finding out about his betrayal, they had driven a long time before he dared to pull over. All this time, the silence in the jeep had caused the tension to rise with every passing minute. No one had dared to ask Zack about what was going to happen and certainly not Barret. So now, Zack was unleashing his bottled up anger and frustration on Barret and it wasn't pretty to see.

Aerith actually felt sorry for him. Zack hadn't even given her the time to tend to his wounds and now his young daughter had to stand by and watch how her father got yelled at.

"I... I just saw him arriving in a chopper..." Barret quietly said, Aerith could barely hear his voice.

His head hung low while he pressed a piece of dirty cloth against the wound on his left shoulder. Zack was towering over him as Barret sunk back into the ground and leaned against the jeep.

"You didn't see where he went?" Zack asked for the third time and Barret's answer was still the same.

"No..."

"And Tifa? Where is she?"

"I-I don't know..."

Aerith turned to Marlene and crouched down to be on eye level with the little girl. She placed her hands on her tiny shoulders and softly smiled to calm her down.

"I'm going to talk to Zack okay? Can you wait here?"

Marlene sniffed as she rubbed away the tears that were about to roll down her cheeks. She hesitantly nodded when Aerith slightly squeezed her shoulder.

"It's going to be okay. I promise." Aerith said, while Marlene didn't react and just looked down to the ground.

Aerith felt the urge to take the fragile, little girl into her arms and to hold her tight until all of this was over, but Aerith didn't know when this would end. She had absolutely no clue what was waiting for them in Junon. She just prayed they would be safe there.

When Aerith was about to leave, Marlene looked up to Aerith with fear in her eyes.

"Is he going to hurt my papa?"

Aerith was slightly shocked because of her question. Zack wasn't an aggressive person and she never would have thought a child could think that way of him, but she supposed the way he was yelling and raging at Barret made him look like a bad guy.

"Of course not. He's just worried." Aerith said and saw Marlene nod once.

After she reassured the little girl, Aerith walked over to the two men while Zack was still dominating the conversation.

"Zack, please. You're scaring Marlene, stop yelling like that!" Aerith immediately said to him when his eyes met hers.

Zack opened his eyes wide in surprise and then just sighed while shaking his head. "Sorry. I'm just-"

"I know. You're worried, but Barret doesn't know where they are. I'm sure he's just as worried as we are."

Barret looked up to Aerith for a moment and then back down to the ground, slightly shaking his head.

"It's my fault... I never shoulda let her join..." he muttered and Aerith crouched down in front of him, lifting his hand and the cloth covering his wound.

While she inspected the bloody mess, she softly smiled at him.

"There's nothing we can do about it now." she said while she pressed the skin around the wound to observe how far it had been healed and how much it still hurt. Barret grimaced as she touched the sore skin and then she looked at Zack.

"Can you get me the first-aid kit we found in the car?" she asked and saw the struggle on Zack's face. She knew he wanted to put up a tough act to dominate over Barret, but the man was in need of medical attention and Aerith wasn't going to wait any longer.

When Zack saw Aerith's stern look, he quickly got her what she asked for. Barret was quiet except for a few growls of pain while Aerith disinfected the wound and effortlessly stitched up the gap in his skin.

"There we go." she proudly said after she had sealed off her handiwork and smiled.

"Thanks... I ain't worth this..." Barret suddenly mumbled and Aerith shook her head.

"Oh hush, don't be like that."

When Aerith got up to hand over the firs-aid kit to Zack, Barret struggled back to his feet. He was still having trouble walking with his bruised leg, but Aerith thought he was healing quite fast.

"Why'd ya save me?" Barret suddenly asked Zack.

Zack looked the other way and folded his arms.

"... I couldn't leave her without her father..." he paused while gazing at Marlene and then looked Barret in the eye. "Even if he is the one who caused this mess."

Barret's shoulders dropped down and he nodded as he looked at his daughter who now ran his way. Aerith could see the pain in his eyes, but also the relief of still being there for Marlene. With his good arm, he caught his daughter and a wide smile appeared on his lips.

"Papa, are you okay now?" Marlene asked while hugging her father close.

"Yeah."

Aerith glanced at Zack who nodded to her with a soft smile. She knew he was thanking her this way and she was happy they finally had been able to leave the anger behind. As they all got back in the jeep, Aerith noticed how Zack glanced at his phone every now and then. She knew as well as he did, a phone call from Cloud would be the most likely way to reunite them with him and Tifa. So she prayed and hoped they would soon hear their voices.

* * *

><p>Zack didn't hold back the huge yawn that escaped his mouth while he was driving along the narrow, dark and deserted road towards Junon. He wasn't even that tired, but because everybody else in the jeep was sleeping, he also felt the urge to close his eyes for a few minutes. He rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and glanced to Aerith beside him, he couldn't help but to smile at her adorable face. Then he looked into the rear mirror and saw Marlene sleeping in Barret's arms. It was actually very heartwarming to see and yet Zack was still not that comfortable with having Barret in the car. It were his selfish actions that had put all of his friends in danger and now he didn't even know if Cloud was still alive.<p>

Zack swallowed hard and wiped his sweaty hands off on his shirt. He didn't want to think like that, but the last hours he couldn't help but to consider the possibility of Cloud being dead. If Shinra had gotten their hands on him and he was caught in some big misunderstanding, he could have been executed. Together with Tifa probably.

_No, they're still alive. They have to be._

It was too unreal to think that Cloud would be killed by the company he adored. There wasn't a SOLDIER more loyal Shinra than Cloud. Surely they must have taken that into account. They had friends in Shinra, powerful friends. The President couldn't have ignored all of them.

_But he could. That selfish bastard._

Zack shook his head. He refused to believe it. Cloud wouldn't be that easily killed. He was nearly as tough as himself.

***Begin Flashback***

"Well, at least we're all in one piece. We'll be alright!" Zack said when he saw Tseng and the other SOLDIERS getting back on their feet after the helicopter crash.

He brushed off the snow on his uniform and saw how Tseng tried to get a signal on his phone. Zack knew up in these mountains, their phones wouldn't be of much use. Tseng finally gave up on the phone and looked at Zack who was already walking through the snow.

"Well...Thankfully, we have someone used to this kind of terrain." Tseng said and Zack rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the country boy..."

Tseng ignored Zack's reaction and walked past Zack.

"Alright, then. We would have reached Modeoheim by now if we hadn't crashed. So we're going to need to make up for lost time."

"Alright, follow me then!" Zack cheerfully shouted and easily made his way through the deep snow.

After some time, Zack looked back and chuckled when he saw the rest couldn't keep up with him.

"Yo! Don't fall too far behind!" Zack laughed as he yelled to Tseng who was probably rolling his eyes. Zack was still chuckling when he looked at the SOLDIER 2nd class that had joined them for this mission. He smiled at him.

"At least someone's keeping up!"

"Well, I'm a country boy too." the SOLDIER said and Zack was pretty surprised to hear that.

"From where?"

"Nibelheim. How about you?"

"Me? Gongaga." Zack said and frowned when the SOLDIER started to laugh. "Hey what's so funny about that! You know Gongaga?"

"No, but it's such a backwater name."

"Ditto Nibelheim!"

"Like you've been there."

"I haven't, but there's a reactor there, right? A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means..."

Zack paused for a short while and then both of them finished the sentence together. "Nothing else out there."

They both started to laugh and Zack turned around again to wave at Tseng who was quite far behind them.

"Good news Tseng! Me and..." he started to shout and then looked to the SOLDIER who quickly took off his helmet to reveal his spiky blond hair and nodded to Zack.

"Cloud."

"Me and Cloud are both backwater experts. Oh yeah!"

"Good, carry on then." Tseng shouted back and he and Cloud continued their way through the snowy mountains.

"So you're 2nd class huh? I don't think I've seen you around." Zack suddenly asked and Cloud nodded and Zack could see the pride that lit up Cloud's eyes.

"My promotion was pretty recent and I've been away on mission a lot, so..."

"Well you keep that up, you'll make 1st class in no time!" Zack smiled and Cloud nodded with a grin on his face.

***End of Flashback***

Zack tightened his grip on the steering wheel and shook his head.

_Cloud, please be alive._

* * *

><p>They had been driving for quite a while now and Tifa was starting to get tired. She supposed it was the adrenaline that had kept her moving before, but now it was slowly fading away and she could feel her body scream for rest. Despite being a 1st class SOLDIER, she knew Cloud was also getting tired by the way the Fenrir was gradually slowing down. It wasn't only their body that needed rest, also mentally they were absolutely exhausted. So when Cloud suddenly stopped near a small forest, Tifa let out a sigh of relief when she slipped off the bike.<p>

"We'll rest here for a while." Cloud said and Tifa nodded to him, grateful for finally being able to stretch her legs.

While she walked around the forest and slid her hand over the tree trunks, as she felt the rough texture underneath her fingers she realized how much she had missed the trees and the smell of grass. A soft breeze lifted her hair and tickled her neck and for a short moment it felt like she was back in Nibelheim.

_But I'm not..._

Tifa stopped walking and gazed at the ground. Without any warning, a single tear escaped her left eye and she sniffed, rubbing the moisture away from her face. She took a deep breath and held the tears back when images of Jessie, Biggs and Wedge flashed through her mind.

_I'm so sorry..._

She bit her lower lip, she had not only lost her best friend, but she also had to cope with the uncertainty of Barret's safety. The last thing she had seen was him falling off the plate and she didn't have a clue about where he was or if he was still alive. Tifa shook her head when that thought popped up and clenched her fists. Barret was still alive. He had to be. He was a tough guy, he wouldn't be killed that easily.

She let out a long sigh when she realized she was just reassuring herself and then walked up to Cloud who was staring at nothing in particular. Even though Tifa knew Cloud was still angry with her, they had to talk about what they were going to do next.

"Cloud?" she softly whispered, afraid she would startle him.

He just let out a deep hum.

"We need to find them." Cloud suddenly said and Tifa frowned in confusion.

"I saw Zack running away with Aerith and Barret before I passed out." he continued and Tifa widened her eyes and shortly after she started to smile.

_He's alive! I knew it!_

"And I know they got out of Midgar." Cloud continued and Tifa let out a short happy laugh.

"Thank goodness." she mumbled and noticed Cloud was glaring at her.

She shivered slightly when she looked into his cold bright blue eyes. She was annoyed that he didn't seem relieved or happy to know his friends got away from the chaos. Tifa just looked to the ground and put a hand on her hip.

"If Zack is helping Barret, Shinra will hunt them down and kill them..." Cloud paused and Tifa could already feel the accusations coming her way so she dropped her head down even more. "And now Aerith's not even safe anymore."

Tifa swallowed when she felt his words cutting through her skin and the worst part was that she knew she deserved it. Even though she had never intended for them to be involved, she should have known it was a possible consequence and now she felt even more guilty. With all of her willpower she held back the tears and sadly nodded.

"You're right." she simply said, but didn't dare to look him in the eye. She was too ashamed.

"We're close to Kalm, if we're lucky, they are there."

Tifa knew how unrealistically optimistic that sounded and knew they probably wouldn't be that lucky.

"And if they're not... We'll have to go and find them." Cloud added.

Tifa nodded in agreement and shifted her weight to her right. Her arm slightly brushed against his and she sighed. Even though she would never admit it, she secretly wanted him to hold her close and tell her everything was going to be alright, but she knew she could never ask for that. Not after everything she had done.

"I... I never meant for all this to happen." Tifa softly said and Cloud looked at her.

"Well, it's a little too late to be sorry now."

He was right and that stung even more. Tifa walked away from Cloud and towards the road they were following. She looked to her left and sighed. But then she suddenly noticed movement in the distance and squinted her eyes to try and identify what was coming their way. She widened her eyes when she saw the figures were approaching very fast and they probably were coming for them.

"Cloud..." she said, while reaching out to his shoulder while still observing the movement in the distance.

Tifa then swallowed and tugged on Cloud's sleeve.

"Someone's coming!" she exclaimed and pointed to the approaching figures in the distance.

Cloud followed her gaze and growled. They immediately got back on the Fenrir and drove off as fast as they could.

"Shit."

"Can we outrun them?" Tifa shouted while still looking back.

"I can try!" Cloud answered and accelerated as much as he could.

Tifa saw the figures moving closer to them and she could see they were two SOLDIERS.

"They're coming!"

Right after Tifa had shouted to Cloud, their pursuers started to fire at them. Tifa gasped in shock when she noticed they weren't shooting with regular guns. The loud bang sounded behind them and Tifa ducked away behind Cloud in a reflex and saw the bullet shooting past them way too close for her to be comfortable. The bullet crashed into the ground in front of them and made Cloud spin the bike around, but as a result they lost a lot of speed.

"Ah!"

Another bullet hit the ground and made Cloud steer away again, losing even more speed. When Tifa looked behind them, the two SOLDIERS rushed past them on their bikes and Tifa let out a shocked scream when one of them grabbed her by her arm and pulled her along with them.

"Tifa!"

She cried out in pain when her right arm hit the ground at full speed. She rolled further away and then widened her eyes when the Fenrir was coming right at her. In the next second Cloud threw his weight back and crashed the bike. In the few extra seconds Cloud had given her, she pushed herself away from the ground and just barely avoided the heavy bike crashing into her.

When she got up she was relieved to see Cloud had been able to get his sword before crashing. She immediately turned to the two SOLDIERS. They had just gotten off their bikes and Tifa could now take a good look at them. They both wore the standard 2nd class SOLDIER uniform and also the trademark helmet. She swallowed, if she was supposed to fight one of them, it wasn't going to be easy. To calm the nerves she took a deep breath and clenched her fists. She stepped back when the taller one suddenly rushed at her. In the corner of her eye she saw how Cloud had tried to get to her, but was stopped by the other SOLDIER. Knowing she was probably on her own for this, she threw her arms up in front of her face and blocked the SOLDIER's hard blow. When she saw the disgusting smirk on his lips, Tifa smacked away his hands with her left hand and with her right fist she tried to hit him in the face.

"Too slow!" he laughed when he caught her fist.

She gasped when he pulled her whole body along and hit her in the stomach. She yelled out in pain and clutched her stomach as she stumbled back. The SOLDIER came at her immediately after, but now she was ready. She ignored the pain and side stepped to dodge the blow, she immediately followed up with crashing her right elbow down on the SOLDIER. Before he could retaliate, she jumped back and waited to see his next move.

"You hit pretty hard." he said and smirked. "But not hard enough!"

She glanced back at Cloud's fight and then immediately regretted it when she didn't see the next punch coming. She was smacked against a tree, but before the SOLDIER could follow up, she ducked and kicked away his leg. When he stumbled back, she threw her fist in his chest and made him crash into the road. Not giving him time to recover, she ran after him and wanted to grab him when he suddenly appeared behind her.

She gasped when she saw him flashing away and then felt the hot burning fire hit her in her back. Just a little too late she was able to jump away, but she was panting and grimaced when she felt the pain all over her body.

"Shit..."

She saw his fist coming her way, but she was too tired to react. She widened her eyes when he flashed away and screamed out when his fist collided with her back. The next thing she knew, he held her up by her throat and she could hear her name being called in the distance.

"Ugh..."

With every passing second, Tifa could feel the air slip out of her body and she tried desperately to get free by kicking and hitting the SOLDIER however she could, but he barely felt her weak hits. She started to panic when she couldn't gasp for air anymore and tried to blink away the black spots that threatened to drag her into unconsciousness.

Suddenly the SOLDIER loosened his grip on her throat and Tifa used all her energy to punch away his arm, but he immediately grabbed her left arm and pulled her towards his own body. When she looked at his lips and saw the dark smile, she widened her eyes and noticed the glow of materia lighting up her face. The ice magic swirling around in his arm exploded with such great force that she was sent flying back. The moment her head hit the ground, Tifa felt nothing anymore.

* * *

><p>"Tifa!"<p>

Cloud watched in horror how her body crashed into the ground. He let out a deep, dark growl when he aggressively struck down the SOLDIER he was fighting with and started to run towards Tifa's motionless body. Before he could reach her, the other SOLDIER fired a lightning spell at him, which he barely dodged by jumping backwards. Immediately after, he clashed swords with his first opponent and yelled out loudly when he managed to smack him into a tree.

"Tifa!" he yelled again, hoping she would hear him and wake up.

Just when he was about to reach out to her, he saw the SOLDIER coming at him with the green glow of the materia in his arm nearly blinding him. Cloud acted fast and blocked the elemental attack with his sword and immediately grabbed the SOLDIER's arm, pulled him towards himself and with a heavy blow, he yanked away the materia.

Cloud kicked away the shocked SOLDIER and spun around to dodge the other one's attack. He had already absorbed the materia in his right arm and smirked when he could feel the magical power swirl around inside his body.

"Heh."

With a powerful icy beam, Cloud blasted away the two SOLDIERS and immediately ran after them, charging another spell to throw at them. Before the two could realize what was going on, Cloud hit them with a lightening spell and impaled the first SOLDIER with his sword. He twisted the sword around inside his body and saw the blood streaming down from the man's mouth. Cloud hissed at him when he saw the SOLDIER take his last breath and then pulled his sword out of the corpse.

He knew the other SOLDIER was coming at him from behind, but before he could do anything Cloud saw a flash of silver and heard a very familiar humming sound. He widened his eyes when he saw the familiar long silver hair dancing in the wind. Cloud stumbled back in shock when the tall man in front of him stood up and gracefully pulled out his narrow sword out of the body of the SODLIER.

"Hello Cloud."

Cloud didn't know how to react. He was still processing the fact that he had just killed a SOLDIER. It didn't make any sense. Why was he here? Was he here to kill Cloud? Why would they send him?

"Sephiroth." the name came out as a short whisper, as if Cloud didn't believe he was actually there.

A flicker of joy appeared in his unnaturally bright green eyes as he smiled at Cloud. The red glow of the setting sun, made the blood dripping from the Masamune stand out even more and Cloud swallowed when Sephiroth casually wiped off the blood from his sword and turned to Cloud.

"What are you doing here? Did Shinra send you?" Cloud immediately asked .

He didn't know if he had to put down his sword or if Sephiroth posed a threat to him. Cloud found it difficult to keep up his guard around the man he respected the most. Sephiroth had always been his idol and he had always felt proud to stand beside him, but now Cloud felt uneasy in his presence. Surely Sephiroth knew about Cloud's betrayal.

"Not even a proper hello?" Sephiroth said and chuckled. "But no, Shinra did not send me."

Cloud was even more confused, why would he go find Cloud by himself?

"But then... why ar-?"

"I came to see you."

Cloud didn't say anything, he was just so confused. He heard how Sephiroth let out a short chuckle and then he walked towards Cloud.

"You see, I had grand plans for you, but this changes everything of course."

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked and frowned, he was getting more suspicious of Sephiroth by the minute. Cloud closely followed Sephiroth's movements with his eyes and tightened his grip on his sword.

"You've always been a hard fighter, you were always striving for more power." Sephiroth paused and also stopped walking around. Cloud swallowed slightly when his mentor suddenly smirked ominously at him. "Well I'm able to give it to you."

"What is this about? I don't understand." Cloud yelled as he took a step back when Sephiroth slowly approached him with the Masamune firmly in his left hand.

"Then you will soon enough!"

Sephiroth suddenly dashed forward and Cloud immediately brought his sword up in front of him to protect his body from the impact. He pushed back and made Sephiroth jump away. In a matter of seconds Sephiroth swung the Masamune back at Cloud and started to push Cloud back with powerful blows. Even though they were both 1st class SOLDIERS, Cloud knew the general was still a great deal stronger than him and so he quickly unleashed a blade beam to gain some time to reposition himself, but Sephiroth didn't allow it. Cloud let out a short cry when Sephiroth swiftly cut his left arm.

Cloud growled in frustration when he eyed the bleeding wound and then heard Sephiroth laughing.

"Why are you doing this!" Cloud yelled in anger and Sephiroth simply smiled.

"Because I have a very important task for you."

"What?"

Cloud frowned, but before he could ask more questions, Sephiroth was already racing at him with his sword ready to strike. Cloud braced himself and took the blow and then retaliated with a powerful blow of his own pushing Sephiroth back. Cloud used the little extra time to quickly separate the hollow blade from his main blade and jumped back with the two blades firmly in his hands. He managed to dodge most of Sephiroth's attacks and then moved forward, attacking with the two blades at the same time, but Sephiroth suddenly kicked him in his stomach making Cloud fall back.

"Argh!"

Cloud rolled back and lost the hollow blade in the process. He gasped when Sephiroth came right at him and tried to dodge the attack, but he yelled out in pain when the Masamune cut deep into his right leg.

"Let's finish this." Sephiroth suddenly said and Cloud widened his eyes.

Using all of his remaining energy, Cloud pushed himself off the ground and dived into Sephiroth, sending him backwards with fast and powerful blows. He quickly spun around to grab the hollow blade to be able to attack faster. However, before Cloud could get to the blade, Sephiroth put his boot down on it and Cloud look up in shock. Sephiroth smirked and kicked Cloud away, making him fall on his back.

In the next second Cloud let out a horrified gasp when he felt the cold metal pierce through his skin and then his chest. The pain came a few seconds later and Cloud let out a loud scream. He started to cough up blood and he could feel his body going in overdrive to try and heal the fatal wound in his heart. He could feel the mako in his veins try to strengthen his body, to stop the bleeding, but Cloud knew he wasn't going to come back from this. He nearly choked on his own blood and dug his nails deep into the ground. Sephiroth stood next to him and had a devilish smile on his lips.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die." he said and Cloud started to feel lightheaded as the pool of blood he was bathing in grew with each second.

"I want you to meet someone Cloud. I want you to meet my mother." Sephiroth continued and Cloud widened his eyes when Sephiroth reached for a small black box in his coat.

"Wh-Wha?" his voice was barely noticeable, but Sephiroth chuckled shortly.

"I know you will appreciate her power." Sephiroth said and Cloud looked up to him in shock as he started to open the small box and moved towards Cloud. "I won't let you disappoint me as well."

"S-stop!" Cloud sputtered and tried to move away even though his body couldn't bring up the energy to move. Sephiroth just scoffed and suddenly pushed down on the Masamune, making the sword dig into Cloud's body even deeper. He screamed out and then gasped when Sephiroth started to pour the green liquid in the box onto the narrow sword. Cloud widened his eyes and shook his head while gasping for air. He was starting to panic when he saw the green liquid roll down on the sword and towards his body. He tried to move once again, but all of his efforts were in vain. He was completely paralyzed.

"N-No! Stop!" Cloud managed to get out, but Sephiroth answered with a laugh.

"You can't stop it Cloud. You'll soon understand."

Once the liquid reached his skin and the wound in his chest. Cloud yelled out until his voice couldn't take it anymore and faded away. The green liquid immediately disappeared inside his body and Cloud had never felt anything this painful before. He felt like puking his guts out, but luckily all of the pain soon started to fade away together with Cloud's consciousness. When nearly the whole box was absorbed by Cloud's body, his head rolled to the right, motionless. The last thing he could see was Tifa's pale, bruised body and in one last attempt he tried to reach out to her.

_Tifa..._

* * *

><p>He smiled satisfied when Cloud's body finally gave in and lay motionless on the ground. Carefully Sephiroth pulled his sword out of Cloud's chest and flicked it to get most of the blood off it. He stepped over Tifa's body and then reached for his phone that had begun to ring.<p>

"Have you found it?" he asked and a while later an annoyed sigh escaped his mouth. "Then look harder."

"Tell the President I'll be there soon. I have news for him."

As he pressed the red button on his phone, Sephiroth clenched his fist and glared into the dark of the night.

* * *

><p>I changed Cloud to SOLDIER 2nd class and Zack to 1st class when they became friends during the mission in Modeoheim. It would be more realistic for Cloud to be 2nd class (and not an infantryman) since he was promoted to 1st class 2 years after Modeoheim and one year before Tifa came to Midgar.<p>

I'm sorry if the thing with Sephiroth is still a little unclear, but it will be explained in later chapters.

Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I'll try to get the next chapter up faster, but with deadlines and finals coming up I don't have a lot of time to write.

I hope you guys like the story so far. Please don't forget to **review/fav/follow**! Tell me what you think because it's kind of pointless for me to keep writing if I don't know if you like it or not.

**Next chapter: A quiet town called Kalm**


	11. Chapter 11: The Road To Junon

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Final Fantasy VII

Thank you to those who have reviewed/followed/faved this story! Love you guys!

There will be an OC in this chapter, but I hope it won't be annoying to you. I do intend to stick with the original group so don't worry.

Enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 11:<span> The Road To Junon**

When he finally found a spot to park the car near the Inn, Zack let out a sigh of relief. His bones cracked happily when he opened the door and stretched his legs. He could hear Aerith giggle and then he knew he was smiling like an idiot. After he rolled back his shoulders a few times and cracked his knuckles, he took the keys from the ignition and stepped out of the car.

"Ya sure no one followed us here?" Barret asked and Zack nodded, he closed the door and locked the car. "Yeah I'm sure."

"So what's the plan?" Aerith asked and was looking around, she immediately stared at the giant construction in the distance. The huge cannon did, of course, stand out next to the small houses in town and Zack knew Aerith was beginning to worry when she saw Shinra's logo all over the place.

"What is this place?" she then asked.

"Junon is one of Shinra's most important airbases and ports." he began en Barret immediately started to yell.

"Then why ta hell did ya bring us here? This place is crawling with SOLDIERS!" he shouted and Zack threw him a nasty glare.

"I don't think _you_ should be yelling at me like that. You should show a little respect." Zack said and saw Barret regretted his words and nodded. He muttered an apology and Zack just sighed, he wasn't going to get any more from Barret anyway.

"We should rest for now, I was thinking about crossing the sea to Costa del Sol, but I just... I want to wait a while. Maybe Cloud and Tifa got out..." he said and Aerith slipped her fingers through his and squeezed his hand. Zack let out a short smile when he felt Aerith's warmth beside him and thanked her by squeezing back.

"We should be alright as long as we stay out of sight." Zack continued and specifically looked at Barret who simply grunted.

"We'll go to the Inn and stay there for a while. It's too risky wandering around town."

Everyone nodded in agreement and walked towards the Inn.

* * *

><p>He could feel a slight sting in his chest. At first it was very faint but after a while started to annoy him because it got <em>so<em> itchy. He started to scratch it, but it seemed like it had the opposite effect. The itching got worse, a lot worse and he began to panic when suddenly his fingers were tainted with blood. When he looked down to see where it came from the air escaped from his lungs and he couldn't breathe anymore. The hole in his chest became bigger and bigger and there was blood, so much blood. He tried to yell for help, but no sound came out of his mouth and he was left there to choke on his own blood.

He widened his eyes in shock when someone called his name.

"Hello Cloud."

He looked to his right and saw Sephiroth standing next to him, smirking at him.

Cloud gasped for air when he shot upright. He was still panting when he noticed the change of environment, everything was _so_ white and he started to blink. He gradually calmed down when he looked around the room and then realized he was in a hospital bed. When he had just calmed down, his heartbeat shot right back up when he started to feel around his chest, but he couldn't feel any blood, or a hole. His chest was perfectly fine and he frowned.

"Was it just a dream?" he muttered to himself and then heard footsteps coming his way.

Cloud looked up, surprised when a young, blonde woman opened the curtains and approached him. She seemed in shock when she saw him sitting in his bed and Cloud eventually cleared his throat.

"Where am I?" he asked and the woman looked like she woke up from her daydream and walked to his bed. Cloud immediately noticed her soft brown eyes and her pink lips. She had her hair in a bun and wore a simple gold necklace. She was very pretty.

"You're in Kalm, in the hospital." she said and Cloud frowned again.

_Kalm? But..._

Cloud widened his eyes when slowly the memories started to drift back to his mind and he swallowed hard.

"I found you on the road not too far from town. You were in really bad shape." she said and then put down the documents she was holding. "It's quite miraculous..." she muttered when she started to inspect Cloud's body.

Cloud remembered now. The bombings, Midgar, the cells. They had been able to get out of there, but then ran into SOLDIERS and Tifa...

"Tifa!" he suddenly yelled and the woman jumped back in surprise. "Where is she? Is she okay?"

Cloud pushed away the covers and stepped out of the bed. His actions were so sudden that the woman accidentally dropped her pen.

"Where is she?" Cloud repeated and the woman looked up to him and pointed to her left. "She hasn't awoken yet, she doesn't heal as fast you do..."

When Cloud rushed forward, the hospital gown he was wearing, slipped off a little bit and he could see the obvious blush on the woman's face when he turned around. She immediately reached for a bathrobe and he quickly put it on before making his way to the curtain that divided his bed from Tifa's.

He swallowed before opening the curtains and his gaze immediately fell on her sleeping figure. He came closer and saw she was still a little bit pale, but she looked rather peaceful. He noticed some bruises and cuts were still healing and the infusion she had attached to her arm. He was surprised she didn't have broken bones all over her body after that fight.

Cloud sighed, she looked so fragile and weak and Tifa was usually quite the opposite. He softly brushed her bangs away from her face and then the blonde woman entered the room. Cloud didn't look away from Tifa, he was secretly hoping she would wake up if someone touched her, but he knew it was highly unlikely.

"She's going to need more time to fully recover. She had a bad concussion, but we've already healed that. The rest of her body should follow soon."

Cloud looked to the woman who had outstretched her arm and held out her hand.

"My name is Sophia, I'm a doctor." she said and smiled.

Cloud took her hand and nodded. "I'm Cloud."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Sophia suddenly asked and Cloud was taken by surprise. "Um...no."

Sophia simply nodded and then sighed. "We need to talk."

Cloud gazed at her and eventually nodded and followed her away from Tifa's bed. He could see some nurses running around the place and felt a little uneasy. He never liked hospitals.

"When I found you... I thought you were dead." Sophia began and Cloud looked down to the floor in thought. "Your chest and even your heart were impaled by something. I was really surprised when I found out you were alive and your wounds suddenly started to heal really fast."

Cloud started to shiver when he heard Sophia's words. It didn't make any sense, that would mean that his dream...

_It wasn't a dream..._

Sophia continued to talk, even though Cloud already remembered what had happened he let her speak. He needed some distraction to keep him from panicking.

"And I knew you were a SOLDIER, with the uniform and all. I know what kind of treatment you go through, but... this is something different." she said and Cloud looked into her eyes and saw the worry.

Cloud didn't react to it and stared at the floor instead. He was still replaying the fight with Sephiroth in his head and each time he remembered the Masamune sliding through his body he could feel that same sting again. He suddenly felt sick.

"It seems like you have been poisoned..." Sophia continued and Cloud remembered how that green liquid had burned inside his body. He started to tremble when he thought back to the excruciating pain.

"I don't know exactly what it is, though I've seen it before. I just... I don't know how to cure it."

Cloud looked up and saw Sophia was waiting for his reaction. He shook his head. "It's okay."

Sophia frowned and both of them suddenly got startled when a phone started to ring. Sophia quickly reached for her phone in her pocket and picked up as she turned around and started to walk up and down in the room.

Cloud walked to the window while Sophia was on the phone and looked down to the parking lot, a smile crept up on his face when he saw his bike between the cars and then looked down to his bed side table and saw his keys and leather gloves laying there.

"I'm sorry, I had to take that call." Sophia said and Cloud turned around.

"Where's my sword?" he asked and Sophia was taken aback by his question, but she quickly answered the question. "In the garage, weapons that big don't belong in a hospital."

Cloud nodded and then his gaze fell on her phone and he pointed to it. "Can I borrow your phone?"

Sophia immediately handed the phone over to Cloud and then heard a nurse calling her. "Sorry." she quickly said and then walked away.

Cloud opened the cell phone and started to dial Zack's number. He prayed that Zack still had his phone on him before he pressed the green button.

_Please pick up._

Cloud waited for the beep sound and swallowed to moisten his dry throat. When he heard an 'hello', Cloud let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Zack?"

"Cloud! Cloud is that you?"

From the moment Zack said his name, he could hear other voices yell in the background, though he couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Yeah it's me." Cloud said and he heard Zack laugh. It was that kind of laugh that sounded like you were about to cry, though Zack would never actually cry.

"Oh man, you don't know how happy I am to hear that! Are you okay? Is Tifa with you?" he fired his questions one after the other and Cloud had to smile.

"Yeah she's here, we're okay-"

Suddenly Cloud heard a loud, deep voice yell to Zack. Cloud could easily recognize it was Barret by the way he was talking. He wanted to talk to Tifa and Cloud frowned when he couldn't understand Zack anymore.

"She's asleep. Zack, keep him quiet please."

"Sorry, but where are you? What happened man? I managed to get Aerith and Barret and Marlene out bu-"

"Wait, Marlene's there too?"

"Yeah, Aerith was looking after her when all hell broke loose. Cloud, what in the world happened?

Cloud paused and then sighed. "I can't explain everything right now. We're in Kalm now."

"Kalm? So you got out of Midgar."

"Yeah, but the President thinks I had something to do with the bombings so he's hunting our asses. Where are you now?"

"We're in Junon. I was thinking about crossing the sea to Costa del Sol."

"That's a good idea. It's safer out there, but how do you plan on getting past security?"

"I know how to get to the changing rooms, we could disguise ourselves as employees and get on the ship. If we keep out of trouble it should work."

"Mm, yeah it's worth a shot, but we'll need some time to get to Junon first. Where are you staying?"

"We're at the Inn, we should be safe here for a while."

"Okay, stay there, we'll get there as fast as we can."

"Okay. But Cloud, how did escape anyway?"

Cloud wanted to answer the question, but a sudden massive headache prevented him from speaking. He placed his left hand against his temple and started to slowly rub it, but it didn't help.

"Cloud?"

"I gotta go Zack. Stay there!" Cloud exclaimed and when he wanted to press the red button on the phone, his vision got blurry and he almost lost his balance. He grabbed the end of the bed and held on when another wave of pain hit his head and he started to grimace.

"Cloud, I brought you some clothes."

Cloud heard Sophia's voice behind him, but he couldn't see her when he turned around. Flashes of silver and red appeared before his eyes and he fell back. He suddenly heard a loud yell and then all kinds of chaotic noises. The pain throbbed in the back of his head and the flashes kept coming. This time he could clearly see a fire and black hair. Why did it seem so familiar to him?

Voices started to speak inside his mind. Some he could recognize, but other voices felt strange and distant to him.

_Papa! No!_

_We depart for the reactor at dawn._

_I won't let you go in there!_

_NO! Please... don't! Nooo!_

"Cloud!"

Cloud widened his eyes when suddenly Sophia and two other nurses were crouching down in front of him. Sophia was checking his forehead and his heartbeat.

"Cloud! Are you okay?" Sophia asked and Cloud gasped for breath he had been holding before. He started to pant. "Y-Yeah."

"What happened?" Sophia asked and told the nurses it was okay.

"I... Don't know." he stammered and pushed his body up. He sat down on the bed and looked at his hands. He could swear he still felt the heat of the fire on his hands.

"You blacked out completely! Gave me a scare."

"Sorry..." Cloud mumbled. He gave himself a scare as well. What happened to him anyway? Was that Tifa's voice? And Sephiroth? How was that even possible?

"Are you okay now?" Sophia asked.

" Yeah."

But he didn't know if he was okay. Was he beginning to hallucinate? Did Sephiroth do this to him? What was going on?

"You don't look that fine to me... Perhaps, this is a side effect from the poisoning?" Sophia said, but Cloud didn't answer, he was still thinking about it. Sophia probably saw the confusion and doubt in his eyes.

"Maybe I should analyse your blood again... This is dangerous, Cloud."

Cloud looked up to her and shook his head. "No, I'm fine. You don't have to do that."

"Are you sure?" Sophia asked and frowned. Cloud could tell she wasn't convinced, but nodded.

"I'm sure."

"Okay, here are some clean clothes. I apologize if they are a bit too big." Sophia suddenly put the pile of clothes in his hands and Cloud looked up.

"Thanks..." he said, still distracted by whatever had happened to him. He saw that Sophia wasn't too sure about it either, the way she was shuffling around. Cloud eventually just tried to put the incident aside and focus on the current situation. He had to find a good route to get to Junon.

"I'll go check on Tifa." Sophia said and before she could leave he stood up.

"Hey! Do you have a map I can have?"

"Um, I think so. I'll go get it."

* * *

><p>When Sephiroth entered the meeting room, he sighed as soon as he saw Scarlet and Heidegger sitting at the table. He absolutely hated those two and their ridiculous laughs. When he closed the door behind him, he just hoped he would be able to resist the urge to cut their annoying heads off during the meeting.<p>

"Ah Sephiroth, you're here." the President said and Sephiroth quietly stood in front of the large meeting table.

Reeve was also there and Sephiroth could tell he was annoyed by the way he had distanced his chair from Scarlet. That dumb woman was probably annoying them all with some new weapon technology that didn't even work properly. It was all so tiresome.

"So, what happened to my two SOLDIERS?" President Shinra asked and Sephiroth immediately answered. "They're dead."

Heidegger jumped up in anger, his hands banging on the table. "What?! That's impossible!"

Sephiroth felt a chill run down his spine when he heard Heidegger's voice. Ha managed to keep his frustration under control and simply looked at the fat man with cold eyes.

"He killed them both." Sephiroth said. He didn't have the slightest difficulty with lying about it. After all, he had perfected that art a long time ago.

Before Heidegger could start complaining, Sephiroth interrupted him to annoy him some more. "You didn't really think Cloud would be defeated by two 2nd class SOLDIERS?"

Heidegger growled and slammed his fist on the table again. "That little!"

"Heidegger, sit down!" the President yelled angrily and then looked to Sephiroth. "Where are they?"

"The most logical option would be Kalm." Sephiroth said, crossed his arms and waited for an answer from the President.

"Yes probably." he mumbled and then Sephiroth glanced at Reeve who was keeping out of this conversation. Oddly enough.

"We'll find them Mr. President." Scarlet suddenly said and sat up straight in her chair. "They can't keep hiding forever!"

The hair on Sephiroth's arms stood up straight when Scarlet started to laugh. The President suddenly started to smile, it was one of those stupid smiles he always did when he thought he was in total control of the situation.

"Heidegger, Scarlet. Go to Kalm, and this time bring enough manpower with you! I want you to find them and bring them to me!" he ordered and then Heidegger and Scarlet nodded to him.

"Use any means necessary!" the President added and Heidegger and Scarlet soon got up and left the room.

Sephiroth glanced at the President who was still in thought. He simply nodded goodbye to both him and Reeve and when he exited the room and shut the door behind him, his lips curled up into a devilish smirk.

Everything was going according to plan.

* * *

><p>When her eyes fluttered open, she had no idea where she was. The first thing she saw was the white curtain in front of her and then the bed with white sheets she was laying in. When Tifa wanted to move her arms, she grunted because they felt so damn heavy. She pushed her body up with both her arms to sit up straight and then noticed the infusion attached to her left arm. She frowned and then looked around the room.<p>

_A hospital... What happened?_

Tifa suddenly grimaced when pain started to sting in her head and she rubbed her temples. Slowly, but surely Tifa started to remember the last things she did. Her heart started to beat faster and faster when she thought back to the fight that had knocked her out. She let out a heavy breath and then panicked.

"Cloud." she quickly said and cleared her throat.

_Where is he?_

"Hello?" she whispered, maybe someone was out there and they could help her with all this medical stuff.

When Tifa didn't get any response, she started to tug at the infusion that was inserted into her arm. She pulled out the needle and wiped away the small amount of blood that trickled out the opening. She pulled away the sheets covering her and shivered when her bare feet touched the cold floor. When she stood up, she noticed she was still a little bit light headed, but she just waited a few seconds for her body to adjust and then took some steps forward. She looked around the room for her own clothes, but couldn't find anything but her gloves and shoes laying on the side table

_Oh great._

She let out an annoyed sigh and then opened the curtain in front of her and looked right at Cloud.

"Cloud?" she softly said in doubt, but then he stirred in his sleep and then Tifa saw a woman sleeping against his shoulder. Tifa raised an eyebrow and observed the blonde woman, she assumed she was a doctor since she was still wearing her long white coat. She was pretty too.

Tifa then huffed, she looked away in embarrassment when she realized she was watching two people sleep. It only annoyed her a little that Cloud was one of them and that that woman was resting her head on his shoulder. Even though she was annoyed by it, now she knew he was alright. Maybe he had brought her here? So he had probably defeated the two SOLDIERS.

Tifa then looked around the room and didn't see anyone else. She decided to go see if there was anybody still working who could help her. When she wandered through the hallway she saw several displays and poster mentioning Kalm. At least she knew where she was. Carefully, Tifa descended the stairs she squinted her eyes when the bright light of the reception nearly blinded her. She walked up to the desk and then an older woman who was packing her things in her purse suddenly looked up to her in surprise.

"Oh my! You scared me! What are you doing out of bed?" she said and Tifa scratched her head.

"Um, I don't know where my clothes are." she simply said and the woman first looked surprised at her question, but then had to hold back a chuckle. Tifa also imagined she was quite the view with the hospital gown.

"We threw them away, they were burned and torn, but... Are you sure you're feeling okay?" the woman asked her and walked over to her to get a better look at Tifa.

"I'm feeling fine." Tifa said with a short smile and then took a good look at the woman.

She noticed she wasn't wearing any kind of uniform so maybe she was just a receptionist who couldn't really help her. The woman obviously saw Tifa wondering about her work in the hospital and she gestured to come along with her.

"I was about to go home, I'm a nurse here. We'll get you some new clothes, this way."

Tifa smiled and followed the woman to a small dressing room.

"We keep spare clothes here, you can look around to see if anything fits you. I'll call the doctor to tell her you're awake." the woman said and Tifa quickly shook her head, thinking about Cloud and that doctor sleeping on the sofa. "Oh no, she fell asleep. I'll wake her up when I'm dressed, I don't want to hold you up."

The woman simply nodded and said goodbye to Tifa who thanked her for her help. Tifa then rummaged around the boxes filled with clothes and found some plain black trousers, a white tank top and a denim shirt. After she slipped into the clothes she made her way back upstairs to her room and when she passed the sofa, she cleared her throat as loud as she could while she started to put on her shoes.

Cloud was the first to wake up with a start. He immediately saw Tifa and widened his eyes.

"Tifa!"

Tifa didn't react to him at first and then Cloud noticed the doctor was now waking up and lifting her head up from his shoulder in confusion. Cloud got up as soon as the doctor was sitting up straight. He reached for Tifa, laying his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked and Tifa reached for her gloves after she had put on her shoes. "Yeah I'm fine, just woke up. Cloud what happ-"

Suddenly the doctor was standing beside her and put a hand on her forehead, which startled Tifa.

"How long have you been awake? Hmm your fever is gone, that's good. How are you feeling?"

Tifa was a little bit confused, but just reassured the doctor that she was okay. The doctor smiled in a relief and stretched out her hand, while the other one disappeared into the pocket of her coat.

"I'm Sophia, I'm a doctor."

Tifa shortly smiled at her and shook hands. "I'm Tifa."

Right after meeting her doctor, Tifa turned to Cloud. "What happened? How did we end up here?"

When Cloud seemed a little bit uneasy and nervous to answer her questions, Tifa frowned and put her hands in her sides. "Cloud."

"I dealt with the SOLDIERS and brought you here. You were beat up pretty bad." Cloud said, but Tifa noticed he was speaking a lot faster than usual, so she raised an eyebrow. Cloud swallowed and looked to Sophia who glanced from Cloud to Tifa. She suddenly started to smile and nodded. "Yeah, he brought you in."

Tifa gazed into Sophia's eyes for a while longer until the young doctor became uncomfortable. "I uh, I have to get my report now that you're awake. I'll be right back." Sophia said and hurried out the door.

"I do have good news." Cloud suddenly said and Tifa snapped her eyes to him and saw he was smiling.

"I called Zack."

Tifa widened her eyes in shock. "You what?"

"I called Zack, I was hoping he would still have his phone on him and he did." Cloud said and Tifa let out a laugh of unbelief. "He's with Aerith, Barret and Marlene in Junon and they're alright."

Tifa brought a hand to her mouth when she could feel tears of joy welling up. In a rush of happiness, she reached out to Cloud and swung her arms around his neck, laughing against his chest. For a few seconds she wasn't thinking about the awkwardness or the difficult situation between them, she was just grateful for the safety of their friends. Tifa felt Cloud's hands on her back and couldn't help but to notice he was actually returning the embrace. She enjoyed the warmth of his body a few seconds longer before pulling away and clearing her throat while she awkwardly glanced to the window and back to Cloud.

"So, to Junon?" Tifa asked and Cloud nodded.

At that moment Sophia entered the room again and Cloud looked at her. "Yeah, Sophia and I have been figuring out a safe way to get there. It shouldn't take us too long."

Tifa saw how Sophia grinned at him and before she could throw her a nasty glare, Tifa mentally kicked herself for being such a bitch and brought out a smile. This wasn't her, she pushed the jealousy towards Sophia away and focused on what had to be done.

"Okay great, when do we leave?" Tifa asked.

"Once I get the bike ready." Cloud answered. "And when you have eaten something!" Sophia added and Tifa smiled.

"Sounds good to me!"

* * *

><p>While Cloud was preparing the bike, Tifa was still thanking Sophia and the nurses for their help. Suddenly Sophia came up to him and judging by the worried look on her face, he knew she was going to try and talk him out of this.<p>

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sophia asked and Cloud smiled at her.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Sophia then looked behind her and came a little closer to Cloud. She sighed.

"You have to tell her. She needs to know the truth." Sophia said and Cloud shook his head and glanced at Tifa in the distance. "No, she'll only worry. I can deal with this on my own for now."

Sophia was about to protest when Tifa suddenly joined them.

"Let's go?" she asked Cloud and he nodded to her.

"Be careful." Sophia said and Tifa smiled brightly at her. "Don't worry, we'll be alright!"

Tifa got on the bike and Cloud turned to Sophia who was still worrying. "Thanks for everything." he said and she slightly smiled, but he could tell she was forcing herself.

Before Cloud could get on the bike, Sophia quickly gave him a quick hug and he patted her back. "We'll be fine."

Tifa waved one last goodbye and then the both of them took off towards Junon.

"Be careful!" Sophia yelled while watching them disappear.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, while they were driving along a quiet road in the open fields. Cloud was thinking about Sephiroth. He was trying to figure out why Sephiroth did it to him and why he killed that SOLDIER? Was he an enemy or was he helping them? No that couldn't be right. Sephiroth wasn't helping them, but he wasn't trying to capture them either. It was so confusing and Cloud still had a hard time accepting that his idol, his mentor had left him for dead on a deserted road. Sephiroth was the one who had promoted Cloud to 1st class. He still remembered that day, like it was yesterday. And now...<p>

Suddenly, a flash of red appeared before his eyes and Cloud gasped. The same pain as before dug deep inside his head.

_No..No! Not now!_

Another flash shot through his mind, it was red and hot. Cloud grimaced when the pain in his head became even worse. There were so many flashes and Cloud couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Cloud?" Tifa yelled to him in confusion when the bike started to sway from side to side.

Cloud started to breathe heavily when his vision became blurry and he was losing his balance. He tried to keep the bike under control, but he knew he couldn't drive anymore. Instead he reached for the brakes and abruptly stopped, without crashing luckily.

"Cloud?! Are you okay?" Tifa was yelling, but her voice was barely noticeable to him. He could see her yelling his name, but he couldn't hear her. He could only hear the chaotic noise of a fire.

"Agh!"

Cloud fell down to his knees and grabbed his head with his hands. He could see the fire now, but he couldn't see where it was until he suddenly heard a name.

_Tifa! No! Tifa!_

Who was that? Was Tifa there? Cloud dug his fingers into his hair to try and soothe the pain, but it didn't stop.

_It's not real! It's not real!_

He saw a flash of silver and then heard Tifa's name again and again. Suddenly the images were gone and Cloud could hear his fast breathing and nothing else. He heard footsteps and then saw a door and Cloud recognized that door. That was in Midgar, in the Shinra Headquarters!

"Cloud!"

_What?_

"Cloud! What's wrong?!"

Everything disappeared in the blink of an eye and he could feel someone shaking him, he could feel strong hands on his shoulders.

"Cloud!"

He gasped and widened his eyes when he heard Tifa yelling at him. He saw she was sitting down on her knees and then looked up to her. She was panting and stopped shaking him when she saw him look at her.

"Cloud?" she whispered, as if she was afraid she would lose him again.

"Y-Yeah..."

She let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes for a short while. Cloud could feel his hands were still trembling and put them down on his knees to make it stop. Tifa suddenly placed her hand on his forehead and she frowned. Cloud didn't know what she was looking for, but he knew she wasn't going to find anything physically wrong with him.

He took her hand and carefully moved it away. "I'm okay."

Tifa shook her head. "What happened? You looked like you were in so much pain."

"I...It's over now." Cloud muttered, but he could see the disbelief in Tifa's eyes.

"Cloud! What's going on?!" she demanded to know and Cloud looked away. He really didn't want to tell her, but he knew he had to now. She wouldn't back off until she knew what was going on. There was a long cold silence between them until Cloud finally gave in.

"I didn't get us to Kalm..." Cloud began and Tifa let out a sigh while rubbing her hands over her face. "Sophia found us on the road. After you passed out..."

"What? What happened?"

Cloud hesitated. He wasn't sure how the news would affect her.

"Sephiroth showed up."

Tifa widened her eyes in shock and he could see her clenching her fists. She looked very angry, angry and shocked at the same time. "Sephiroth?!"

"He did something to me. He was talking about his mother or something." Cloud continued and he could tell Tifa was very confused. He couldn't blame her though, he didn't understand it himself.

"But why?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know!"

"I'll be fine Tifa." Cloud said, laying a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"No you're not fine Cloud!" Tifa yelled, making Cloud startle, but then she calmed down and wiped away the few tears that has escaped. She stared at the fields in front of them and sighed.

"What are we going to do?" she mumbled, letting her head fall down, admitting that she was powerless in this situation.

Cloud glanced at her and sat down beside her. He laid his arm around her shoulders and slightly pulled her closer to him. Tifa rested her head on his shoulder and kept staring at the grass fields.

"We'll figure it out." Cloud softly said and squeezed her arm. He could feel her muscles relax and for a short moment they forgot about the mess they were in and enjoyed each other's company and comfort.

* * *

><p>Cloud was waiting on the bike for Tifa while she stretched her legs and rolled her shoulders back. She didn't understand how he could still sit on that thing after all these hours of driving. She could understand that he wanted to get to Junon as fast as they could, but Tifa really needed to rest once in a while.<p>

"Are we almost there?' Tifa asked when Cloud was checking their location on the map.

He nodded. "Yeah, we should get there by tonight."

Tifa let out a sigh of relief and walked around the road. She knew Cloud wanted to leave again, but she wanted to enjoy the freedom for her legs a little while longer. Suddenly she looked up when she heard a car approaching fast. Her first reaction was to call out to Cloud in a panic.

"I don't think that's Shinra." Cloud said while he was looking at the vehicle in the distance.

Tifa then noticed the car was slowing down and she raised an eyebrow.

"Then why is it stopping?" she asked and Cloud didn't answer, but she did see him reaching out for the swords hidden in the bike. She as well, prepared her fists for whatever was coming their way.

When the car came closer, Tifa could take a better look at the driver and then looked up in confusion.

"It's Sophia."

Cloud got off the bike while Tifa made her way to the car. Sophia opened the door and Tifa could see the relief written on her face.

"Thank goodness I caught up with you!" she exclaimed and both Tifa and Cloud were just looking at her with puzzled expressions.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked and Sophia dropped her shoulders. "They came looking for you."

Tifa and Cloud both widened their eyes and looked at each other. "Shinra?"

Sophia nodded. "There were so many of them. They started to interrogate people and when they couldn't find anything they started to attack the town."

"What?!" Tifa immediately shouted and brought her hands to her face while shaking her head.

"I barely managed to get away, they were looking around the hospital. I... I didn't know what to do." Sophia almost broke out in tears, but Cloud quickly laid his hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"It's okay, you're safe, that's the most important." he said and Sophia sighed.

"I just don't understand why they are doing this." she mumbled in disappointment.

Tifa, however, knew exactly why they were doing this and she could feel the anger boiling inside her body. She clenched her fists and started to yell. "They're after us! And they're hurting innocent people because of us, because of _me_!"

"Tifa, calm down!" Cloud exclaimed and reached out for her arm, but Tifa backed away and gestured towards the road.

"Don't you see? They will keep hunting us and hurting people wherever we go! They'll blame it on us, on AVALANCHE and turn the people against us!" Tifa continued and she could see the shock on Sophia's face when she heard the name AVALANCHE, which only confirmed Tifa's theory.

"We need to go back!" Tifa said and looked firmly into Cloud's eyes.

Cloud shook his head and could see Tifa getting annoyed. He quickly interrupted her before she could start yelling again. "If we go back now, we're dead! We can't do anything about it now! I understand how you're feeling, but let's think about this first."

Tifa looked away from him and huffed, crossing her arms. Cloud just sighed at her reaction and then glanced at Sophia who was obviously still processing the new information.

"Wait, you are the two prisoners who escaped from Shinra? _You_ did the bombings?" she asked and Tifa could feel Sophia's accusing gaze burning on her side. She looked to the ground and nodded.

"I'm part of AVALANCHE. Cloud had nothing to do with it..." she quietly said and Sophia widened her eyes. "But why? Do you know how many people died that day?"

Tifa swallowed and thought back to the bombings. She had to hold back the urge to start crying. She knew people died that day, her best friend died that day, but she didn't know what to say to Sophia.

"We can continue this conversation some other time. If Shinra was in Kalm, they're right behind us. We need to go and warn Zack and the rest." Cloud suddenly said and Sophia looked from Tifa to him. She hesitated for a while and then nodded.

"Cloud's right. We need to go."

Cloud turned to Tifa, who still had her face hidden from them with her hair. "Tifa, can you drive? I'm sure Sophia can use some rest." he asked and she softly nodded. "Good. Try to keep up!"

Cloud put his goggles back on and got on the Fenrir. He started the engine when Sophia jogged to the car and got in the passenger's seat. Tifa hesitated a little bit before opening the door and getting in the car. Once she roared the car to life and started driving, her thoughts drifted off to everything that had happened.

_This is such a mess. How did it ever come to this?_

She could feel Sophia watching her, but she didn't turn her head. She didn't want to talk about it and deep down she knew it was because she was ashamed. If they had never bombed those storages, everyone would still be alive. Wedge, Biggs, Jessie... all those other people. Cloud and Zack wouldn't have been forced to betray Shinra and Aerith wouldn't be in danger.

Why did they have to do it in the first place? Who said it was up to them to decide the planet's future? Why couldn't they just have left everything the way it was? Maybe they weren't supposed to do any of this, maybe somebody else was destined to change the world. Maybe she made a huge mistake and she would never be able to forgive herself.

_And then there's Sephiroth..._

How did she end up in this mess?

Tifa's eyes widened in surprise when Sophia laid a hand on her shoulder. She was smiling and Tifa just looked at her with confusion.

"I'm sorry for my reaction. I'm sure you had a good reason. You're not a bad person." she said and Tifa focused back on the road without saying a word. She used to believe that, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

* * *

><p>So what is Sephiroth up to? Shinra is blaming the people's suffering on AVALANCHE and Cloud is getting nasty hallucinations.<p>

Next chapter our friends will be reunited and will have to face new challenges together. I hope you will stick with me until then! Please **review/fav/follow**! It would make me very happy and it encourages me to keep writing.

**Next chapter:** crossing the sea and a mysterious ninja


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